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Comment by nl | Hacker News Reader

This has the potential to be a really good article, and it almost starts going down some promising lines, but then misses out on the interesting bits.

Take this quote: BMW hopes its fully autonomous iNext, due in 2021, will revolutionize the industry but in the meantime it will continue to promote its poorly performing i3 as the best option for those looking for a premium zero-emissions car.

Yes, the i3 is a wacky, kind-of ugly design, and it isn't surprising (to me) that it hasn't been a big seller. But the BMW i division is one of the most interesting things happening in the car industry today, and is making cars[1] that are just as innovative as Tesla.

It's a pity that it didn't explore this a bit more.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_i8

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My sister tried one a year or two ago, and loved it.

She ended up not ordering it because the delivery time was too long (6 months maybe? can't remember)

So it appears to me the i3 sells really well - BMW just can't (or doesn't want to) keep up with demand.

My sister drives a Golf hybrid now.

Does she have the GTE? That thing seems pretty decent.

Yep, that's the one.

She's very happy with it.

I'm very tempted by one, the only thing putting me off is the price here in the UK.

Its a pity they cant just make a normal, fully electric 3 series or 5 series. These are beautiful cars, yet the decide to go for the i3 and i8.

They needed to capture attention first, and also make sure they don't damage their brand if they mess up their first generation e-vehicle. I think this strategy makes sense.

I know what you mean though :-)

Fair enough, but most people I know that would be interested in a fully electric car are just turned off by how the 'i' series look. I your point, they could have just made them look somewhat nicer.

There seems to be no middle point with the i-series and it's its biggest problem. You either have to go for the affordable but incredibly ugly and bare i3(seriously, look at this car from the side - front, middle and back all look like they've been designed by different teams and then stitched together), or for the gorgeous i8, which is incredibly expensive and very impractical.

It is also worth pointing out the i8 is a hybrid, with 15-23 miles of range on electric only.

Interior is actually a bit worse - it has those tiny screens with huge bezels just bolted on somewhere randomly.

I actually like the looks of the i3.

That is the innovator's dilemma, and the i-brand is BMW's attempt to avoid it.

That's a story worth writing.

Because the typical 3-Series buyer is unlikely to buy a i3, but the get new customer segments with the i3. So overall more sales without cannibalizing existing ones.

there might be engineering constraints: does the frame need to be redesigned to store all the batteries? How is the 50/50 weight distribution affected? How is handling affected?

I think the differences in the drivetrain might be so much that they would need to create a fundamentally new car. It would have to be a new model.

Didn't the best i division employees quit recently? So we'll see just how "promising" this division remains.

https://cleantechnica.com/2016/04/23/top-bmw-engineers-leave...

The i3 is ugly, but it's a lot of fun to drive. The only reason I don't own one is that it doesn't have enough range. I make 120-mile trips fairly frequently and it's just not practical for that.

It's not really any more fun to drive than every other EV in this class (KIA Soul, Nissan Leaf, VW E-Golf). However it costs more and is really spartan inside.

I've not tried the Kia or the VW, but I enjoyed it a lot better than the Leaf and found the interior to be nicer. It may be spartan in how it looks, but a great deal more thought was put into the layout than in the Leaf.

My only complaint with Leaf really is that it has more torque than its bobbly chassis can handle. Traction control has to kick in way too often if you are not accelerating carefully.

The i3 interior is.. bizarre. Two tablets in a plywood holder? But I guess it can have its own novelty appeal. Still I'd suggest the electric Mercedes over this, if one gravitates towards premium German makers. Just my two cents.

For me it is. Where I live there are multiple EV car-sharing services so I got to try them all: between the i3, the leaf and the renault zoe the i3 is by far the nicest to drive and most fun to be in, in my experience. Zoe is also nicer than the leaf, though underpowered.

I'm really into the i3's interior though: the steering wheel and the screen just look like they're floating and the dashboard looks so sleek.

> there are multiple EV car-sharing services

Where's that?

In Copenhagen we have: letsgo.dk, gomore.dk, drive-now.dk (the latter also exists around Europe). I've never used Gomore though; it's the other two how I got to try the cars.

edit: I should mention that gomore isn't EV exclusive, drive now is EV exclusive here though.

Also looking at an i3, and it looks like the range is too small for me. I think the new models have about 300km/186mi (ideal conditions probably), but for a vacation one would need at least 500km IMO.

I think it is worth noting that the e90 3-series was considered incredibly ugly when it was released.

I find it difficult to imagine how the i3 could ever be viewed as a pretty car, but they have some history in picking trends.

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