BMW Designer’s PHEVs Get Green, Light

NEW YORK – Creating a new urban-mobility chic with the i3 and i8, BMW designer Benoit Jacob integrates the DNA of the upscale marque with a futuristic aerodynamic vision for electric vehicles.

Jacob tells WardsAuto in an interview here the new urban vehicles retain BMW design elements that his team incorporated into forward-looking plug-in hybrids.

Tape conceals joints of i3 to keep rivals from learning adhesive strategy.

The i3 and i8 will be the first mass-produced cars with extremely lightweight carbon-fiber bodies. That will help offset the 440-lb. (200-kg) battery pack used to power the vehicles.

BMW is producing the carbon fibers in a joint venture with SGL, a maker of carbon-based products. They are targeting mass-production of the new fiber material to eventually create economies of scale.

Although the production models will differ from the recently unveiled prototypes, Jacob promises the cars going on sale will be equally attractive and will appeal to motorists’ emotions. They will feature large wheels and narrow tires mounted on wheels located as far forward as is possible.

“Our main challenge was to use new lightweight technology and materials, while recognizing the family (design) genes, and give it a new look,” he says. “The vehicles showcase new materials in an elegant manner.”

The materials make extensive use of natural fibers.

“We could only achieve these designs with the new materials and technologies that were used,” he says. For instance, more precision was achieved in the radii of the body than is possible with conventional metals and plastics.

Jacob heads a team of 20 people who created the designs for the i3 and i8 at studios in Munich, Germany, and Thousand Oaks, CA. “Hundreds of engineers also worked on the development of the first prototypes,” he says.

BMW plans to launch the i3 in late 2013 and the i8 in early 2014. There is no word on the price of the i3, but spokesman Dave Buchko says the i8 will priced at more than E100,000 ($138,800).

The vehicles are undergoing intensive track testing to ensure their active technology will work as intended. There's also a lot of wind-tunnel testing aimed at making the vehicles highly aerodynamic. Jacob declines to reveal the cars’ drag coefficient.

The i3 and i8 are designed to afford easy entry and egress to occupants. Virtually the entire airy interior is available to the driver and passengers because no console will be between them. The battery pack is located below the floor of the vehicle, raising the driver’s seat to a position tailored to city driving.

Jacob says the cars will not be as energy-intensive as current vehicles when they go into mass production.

BMW plans to build the vehicles with 100%-renewable energy sources and with 70% less water than is used in today's production systems.

The French-born designer was appointed chief of BMW i, a new sub-brand of the German auto maker, in 2010. He also has worked for Renault and Volkswagen.

Jacob pursues sustainability in his designs and believes his vision must endure for the next 10 to 15 years. His aim is to produce a culture of sustainable mobility.

“We're just at the beginning of the carbon age. For a designer, it's highly interesting.”