BMW's 1-Series ActiveE Electric Concept Car

GENEVA, SWITZERLANDLast week at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland, BMW AG displayed their new concept car - the BMW ActiveE electric car. BMW has designed the ActiveE electric car as a show car to represent the future of BMW zero emissions driving style. The Concept BMW ActiveE electric car has rear-wheel drive and is powered by a new BMW synchronous electric drive motor that develops 125 kW/170 hp of power and produces 250 Nm (184 ft-lbs) of torque.

BMW has given the the ActiveE electric car a reduced weight construction and this helps the electric powered 1-Series accelerate from zero to 60 km/h (37 mph) in under 4.5 seconds and from zero to 100 km/h (62 mph) in less than 9 seconds. The BMW ActiveE Electric has a top speed of 145 km/h (90 mph). The ActiveE uses a lithium-ion battery back developed in cooperation with BMW's battery manufacturing partner SB LiMotive (Bosch-Samsung) and BMW anticipates that the real-world driving range of the ActiveE 1-Series electric car to be about 160 km (100 miles).

Charging the BMW ActiveE electric car takes 3 hours when using a high capacity (50 ampere) commercial quick charger, and 4.5 hours when a residential (32 ampere) home outlet charger is used. BMW has designed the ActiveE to regenerate the lithium-ion battery pack under braking and that once the driver lifts their foot off of the accelerator pedal, the electric drive motor switches polarity and acts as a generator to charge the car's battery pack.

BMW has configured the location of the ActiveE Electric's battery pack to reside where the conventional combustion engine is situated on a standard 1-Series chassis. The battery pack stretches rearward to the location of the conventional fuel tank area of the car and BMW has configured the weight of the electric car components to achieve a 50/50 weight distribution.

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