BMW ActiveE 2012 Review

Less than a handful are in showrooms, and not much more than a handful have been sold, although that's going to change.

Eventually it will change fast as governments force the pace of plug-in development in a push for greener motoring, a switch that is already happening in Europe and gathering momentum in the USA.

Some forecasters predict electric cars will account for 10 per cent of global sales in 2020 and others are even more aggressive, with Tesla Motors chief Elon Musk predicting a 50 per cent share as he pushes for acceptance of his new Model S luxury electric limousine.

But Europe is still the focus of electric car development and no-one is pushing harder than BMW, which is even creating an electric sub-brand - BMW i - to house its plug-in and range-extender electric models in coming years.

The first of the sparky newcomers, the i3, is just around the corner and testing is currently focussed on a fleet of 900 very special BMW 1-Series cars that carry the power pack that will be transplanted next year into the back of the i3.

I am driving the ActiveE in an Australian exclusive, searching for answers around BMW HQ in Munich but also keen to see if electric cars - following my drive time with the Nissan Leaf and, more recently, the Smart ED - really can be a workable and enjoyable future.

VALUE

How do you put a price on the future? You cannot actually buy an ActiveE but, if you could, it would probably have a showroom sticker somewhere around $250,000.

Why? Because the basics of the car are a BMW 1 Series coupe and, in Australia, that means at least $47,400. By the time the engineers and assembly line workers have done their regular jobs, and then the boffins have completed the switch to sparks, the price has soared into the labratory-on-wheels range where cost is not a major worry.

"It would be expensive still, clearly, because it's prototype development," admits Ian Robertson, who heads worldwide sales and marketing for BMW Group. But the ActiveE morphs into the i3 next year and, even though Carsguide would much prefer a pricetag in the affordable $35,000 range, it's likely to be around $60,000.

That's still a lot for a car you cannot drive from Sydney to Melbourne, but it shapes up pretty well against the Mitsubishi iMiEV at $48,800, the Nissan Leaf at $51,500 and the upcoming Holden Volt at $59,990 - particularly with the regular strengths that come with a BMW badge.

TECHNOLOGY

The ActiveE is developed from BMW Group's original electric testbed, the MiniE - the most impressive electric car I drove until the Leaf - and builds on that package. For a start, there is a back seat . . .

The ActiveE is a totally battery-powered electric car that is powered by a permanent-magnet, hybrid synchronous motor rated at 125 kiloWatts and 250 Newton-metres. The battery has a 32 kiloWatt-hour capacity and weighs 450 kilograms, complete with liquid cooling.

BMW says the ActiveE will zap to 100km/h in 9.0 seconds with a top speed of 145km/h, performance that's way better than the Smart ED electric runabout I drove in Stuttgart last month and compared to my first car, a 1959 Volkswagen Beetle.

The range is 145 kilometres, something I don't get to seriously test but which seems realistic. BMW says the car's new power pack weighs less than 100 kilos, which is good news for the i3. The ActiveE has a total weight of 1800kg but BMW is aiming for about 1200 for the showroom i3, which will retain the company's traditional rear-wheel drive.

The ActiveE package includes a bunch of other tricky stuff, from a 'coast' mode that allows you to save energy when you lift off the accelerator at highway speeds, very impressive regenerative braking - it's so powerful that it trips the brake lights because of the deceleration at city speeds - and even stability and traction control adapted for the electric world.

DESIGN

The ActiveE almost look like every other 1 Series coupe. The big giveaway is not the special graphics package on the sides but the 'power' bulge in the bonnet. Traditionally, this sort of thing is used to help ram air into a combustion engine, or clear space for giant fuel injection inlets, but in the ActiveE the bigger bonnet - like the one on BMW's X6 hybrid - is to clear the complex engine control system where the engine once lived.

Inside, it's all 1-Series. The only visible change is a dashboard readout of battery life and instant energy use - and regenerative recovery. "The ActiveE has proven that you don't have to have the compromises that most of the vehicles have out there at the moment. It has a proper back seat and a boot," says Robertson.

SAFETY

It's impossible to rate the safety of the ActiveE, because none has been publicly crash tested. But it has the airbags, stability controls and ABS brakes of the regular 1 Series coupe, although stability is not as good with 1800kg to stop and heft around obstacles.

The real safety test will come with the arrival of the i3 next year, and BMW is - not surprisingly - promising a five-star NCAP result.

DRIVING

I could easily live with a BMW ActiveE. It's not as rorty or responsive as an M3, or as luxurious as a 7 Series, but it really gets the job done and is a genuine BMW with an electric twist. As I hit the stop-start commuter snarl on the road into Munich I'm surprised at how well the ActiveE copes. Actually, it's easier to handle than an internal combustion car, as there is no clutch to worry about, no driveline shunt or grumble, and a relaxing absence of noise.

The ActiveE easily keeps pace with stop-start city traffic, jumps to 80km/h, and easily holds a 140km/h cruise on a section of unrestricted autobahn. No-one picks it as an electric car and I have to keep reminding myself that I'm driving on battery power alone.

There are some giveaways, such as the incredibly low noise levels. There is a buzzing whir from the driveline - it must be like tinnitus - but mostly there is the sound of near-silence until the wind noise builds up around 100km/h. There is also the regenerative braking. Basically, unless you're at highway speeds - when the car goes into the impressive, energy saving 'coast' mode - the ActiveE harvests energy from braking to recharge the battery.

Except you don't actually have to apply the brakes. It's all done with electronics and, after about an hour of driving, I find I can roll easily to a predictable traffic-light stop without braking at all.

I drive more than 140 kilometres over a day-and-a-half in all sorts of conditions and I find I really, really like the ActiveE. Alright, the 1800kg works heavily against it in corners - where it misses the usual BMW fun factor - but otherwise it's great to drive and a wonderful pointer to the i3.

But. There are two big buts. The first is the inevitable 'range anxiety', as I'm never really sure how far I can run without access to a battery top-up. BMW plans to answer this one with a Volt-style range-extender combustion engine to top-up the battery, although it's not clear yet if this will be in the i3 or only the larger and sportier i8 that follows.

The other is the source of the power. Munich is relatively green, with lots of wind generators about, but in Australia there is no such thing as 'zero emission' cars if they're plugging into a coal-fired grid. So there are still questions and doubts, but the ActiveE is a ripper car and has me really excited to jump into the production i3 in 2013.

VERDICT

 AL Gore and his friends got it wrong. The electric car is not dead and, in fact, it's accelerating rapidly towards a driveway near you.

BMW ActiveE
Score: 8/10
Price: Not for sale
Body: BMW 1 Series coupe
Engine: hybrid synchronous motor, 125kW/250Nm
Battery: 32kWh
Range: 160km
Performance: 0-100km/h, 9.0s; top speed 145km/h
Consumption: 0.12kWh/km