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BMW has recently announced that there will be around 46 i dealers in the UK, approximately a third of its overall network, with a "good geographic spread". Owners will be able to take their electric car to any of these i dealerships for servicing and repair.
Meanwhile, maintenance costs are expected to be a fifth cheaper than the 1-series, as oil does not need to be changed and the brakes do not suffer the same level of wear. Add to this a focus on safety, which means levels matching the conventional BMW range, and insurance classifications are also expected to be similar to the 1-series in the UK. Numerous crash tests have shown that the structure lives up to expected safety standards, while the German fire brigade has said that rescuing passengers from a crashed BMW i3 is similar to a conventional vehicle, despite the different components. The high-voltage battery is housed in the underfloor area, where statistically the vehicle has the least deformation through crashes; however, upon impact, the high-voltage element disengages, protecting occupants further.
BMW wants to make its electric vehicle viable to use as a primary vehicle, and is addressing this under the tag line '360° Electric'.
At home, customers can use a normal electric supply to charge the i3, which will take eight hours - the norm with electric cars. There's also an option for a wall box, which will reduce this time to three hours.
"We wanted to turn charging into a really easy procedure - there's no hassle with cables," says a spokesman. Prices for the wall box are not yet confirmed.
The public infrastructure means the car can also be charged on-the-go. Partnering with car park operators and public charging infrastructure, BMW hopes to offer users features such as displaying available charging stations on smartphones, although admits this is some way down the line. However, charging cards will be available from launch, giving access to charging stations with cashless payment. General manager of BMW i, Suzanne Gray, says that more than 5000 public charging points would be available to use a ChargeNow card, with a number of membership options such as monthly for frequent users or pay-as-you-go for infrequent use. Access to the charging station occurs via a standardised QR (quick response) code, which starts and ends the charging process by scan function and smartphone app.
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