BMW is leaning more and more towards electric power, despite being one of the first to promote hydrogen as the fuel of the future.
At this year’s Frankfurt Auto Show, BMW displayed its electric i3 and i8 plug-in hybrid concept cars, plus another concept for city living, being a plug-in electric scooter.
The “Concept e” maxi scooter is the third model from the Bavarian maker to focus on urban sustainable mobility, with small environmentally conscious vehicles for congested cities such as Bangkok, after the boats have left.
BMW scooter
The City Cars were better represented this year, and undoubtedly point to an e-future. On display were production versions of the Volkswagen Up, the all-new Smart Fortwo, Audi A2 and Urban Concept, as well as BMW’s own i3 city car, which is expected to be eventually joined by the smaller i1.
The Concept e will be BMW’s smallest electric vehicle. It could easily go into production, with BMW stating it “aims to put a premium offer on the market in the area of electro-mobility in the foreseeable future.”
The electric scooter is claimed to have a “realistic” riding range of 100 km between recharging, which only requires a regular household power socket, and takes less than three hours to recharge when the battery is completely flat, according to BMW.
One very interesting feature is the use of two rearward facing video cameras integrated into the number plate and two LCD monitors for the rider to see.
The Concept e was not the only electric-powered two-wheeler, with several brands offering zero-emissions city mobility. These included Honda, Vectrix, Yamaha and other traditional car manufacturers including Volkswagen and BMW’s own Mini brand.
