Soon, the second production vehicle that uses the "i" moniker will be fully revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show, still BMW is hard at work promoting this plug-in hybrid sports car. The latest event took place at the BMW Group’s Miramas test track in France where some people had the opportunity to test the i8.
Like the i3, the i8 also uses a carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) passenger cell, and several aluminum structural and crash chassis components. This gives the sports car a really low center of gravity and an almost 50:50 weight distribution. With a sports car design, it has room for 4 passengers, it measures 4689mm in length with a wheelbase of 2800mm, has a width of 1942mm and a height of 1293mm.
The hybrid system consists of a 1.5-liter, three cylinder, turbocharged petrol engine that produces 231PS (170kW or 228bhp) driving the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission, and an electric motor with 131PS (96kW or 129bhp) connected to the front wheels.
When running just with electric power, the liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery gives the i8 a range of 35km (22 miles) and a top speed of 120km/h (75mph).
Combined, the electric motor and the petrol engine, generate 362PS (266kW or 357bhp) and 570Nm (420lb/ft) of torque. Top speed is electronically limited to 250km (155mph), while the 0 to 100km/h (62mph) sprint is done in 45 seconds.
With a fully charged battery and a full petrol tank, the i8 has a range of around 500km (310 miles) in COMFORT mode. In ECO PRO mode this can be raised up to 20%.
The combined fuel consumption in EU cycle is around 2.5 liters for each 100km (113UK mpg or 94.1 USA mpg), and it emits just 59g/km of CO2.
Source: BMW
