BMW says it has already received “several hundred” advance orders for its i3 electric car due to be launched later this year.
The German premium brand’s global sales and marketing chief, Ian Robertson, said many people had showed an interest in the i3 following a world tour taking in Europe, the US and Japan.
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He added: “We already have a lot of names and addresses even though we are still six months away from launch. Project i also has 1.2m Facebook fans and the interest is a lot higher than we expected.
Ulrich Kranz, senior vice president, BMW i, said the i3 is currently winter testing in Sweden. He added: “We are making final adjustments and everything is going very well. We are really confident and our expectations are very high.”
Kranz also believes electric cars will gain popularity, overcoming so-called range anxiety as battery technology improves and through hybrid and range-extender technology.
Marketing chief, Maximilian Kellner, pointed out last year 92,221 electric vehicles were sold globally, up from just 4,669 in 2010.
“To have any chance of addressing the growing ecological challenges in the world’s metropolitan areas, there’s no getting around the use of zero-emission drive technology,” said BMW chairman, Norbert Reithofer, at this week’s annual results event in Munich.
“In the medium term, megacities have no choice but to encourage the use of alternative drive systems.”
He cited locations such as London with its congestion charge and Beijing where electric vehicles are already exempt from the allocation procedure for number plates as well as from fees.
The BMW i3 is designed with a carbon-fibre reinforced plastic passenger compartment and an aluminium chassis which the company claims is 250-350kgs lighter than other EV passenger cars on the road.
It has an approximate range of 150kms (90 miles) while customers will also be able to increase this by adding an optional range extender – a small petrol engine.
“A range of 150kms is entirely sufficient for the great majority of drivers,” said Reithofer. “Across the globe, the average distance driven on a daily basis is 64kms and cars are parked for 22 hours each day. This time can be used to recharge the battery.
“The automotive industry is going through a transformation – an iconic change as we call it. It will be up to the customer to determine which technologies will succeed and which services will be in demand.”
