Hey, BMW actually went and made a convertible version of their i8! That’s . . . that’s actually kind of cool! The i8, although not everything it’s cracked up to be, is a very interesting idea, and (thankfully) points to a green way forward that is not slow, dowdy, hair-shirted, and boring. Look: I know, you know, and anybody with half a brain knows that we are going to be driving electric cars, or some sort of hybrid car in the future. And I’ve said this countless times: if car manufacturers can make something like a Tesla Roadster in a Miata-like package and sell it inexpensively, the world will beat a path to that automaker’s door.
And BMW might be showing us the way forward.
Efficient Setup
The BMW i8, the first generation or this current iteration, are not the answer I just described. They’re not exactly cheap nor are they really sports cars. What they are though, is a good indication of how a car company can move forward with various and sundry green initiatives and still have cars that are fun to drive and, you know, behave like the cars we already enjoy. The i8 uses a fairly complex layout of batteries and electric motors and a small, gas-fueled engine. The engine is there to provide forward momentum to the rear wheels only and to charge the batteries. The idea is that you drive around on EV power as much as you can, but if you start to run out of juice, the engine kicks in, charges the EV system, and you’ve still got motive ...