BMW Plans to Provide Gas-Powered Loaners to EV Drivers for Long Trips

PRLog (Press Release) - Mar. 14, 2013 - BARRINGTON, Ill. -- Motor Werks BMW (http://www.motorwerksbmwbarrington.com/index.htm) in Barrington is happy to report that in the future, drivers of electric cars from BMW will be able to simply borrow a gas-powered BMW when it’s time to take a long road trip. Research by BMW has revealed that fewer than one tenth of all daily trips exceed 100 miles. An all-electric vehicle is incredibly useful and efficient for almost all driving tasks, but range is a stumbling block that hasn’t been effectively worked around yet. That’s why BMW has decided to offer this simple and inexpensive solution to drivers of the new ActiveE electric car.

The BMW ActiveE electric car is currently in a field trial, and while it isn’t ready for purchase yet, it is currently being tested by a select number of drivers around the world. The ActiveE is also being made available in a car-sharing program called DriveNow in San Francisco, and at several cities around the world. BMW will probably leverage its experience with car-sharing systems around the world that work by charging a simple by-the-minute fee in order to make it easy for future drivers of the ActiveE to easily check out a gas-powered car for long-range trips.

The BMW ActiveE is an all-electric plug-in car gets an EPA-estimated 102 MPGe and has an impressive 94-mile range. It is a four-seat, rear-wheel-drive sedan, which runs on a 32-kWh lithium-ion battery and a 168-hp electric synchronous motor. The BMW ActiveE field trial is part of the BMW Project i, which aims to develop a mass-production electric car to go on sale later this year.

This production vehicle will probably be based on the BMW i3 Concept with eDrive, which was previously called the Mega City Vehicle. It was first unveiled in 2011 at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

The team at Motor Werks BMW is thrilled about the ActiveE. Contact their dealership (http://www.motorwerksbmwbarrington.com/contact-form.htm) to find out more about current and future BMW models. Their dealership is located at 1475 S Barrington Road in Barrington, Illinois, and carries a large inventory of new BMW vehicles and pre-owned cars.

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