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Updated: BMW ActivE Concept, Preview of the Megacity Vehicle

It was only a matter of time before premium car manufacturers began considering adding a wider range of electric vehicles to their line-ups. Apparently, the first step into expanding the EV offering was made by German carmaker BMW, who rolled out today the first details and photos of a 1 Series-based electric vehicle, dubbed ActivE.

Powered by a new synchronous electric motor, the car develops 170 bhp and a maximum torque of 250 Nm of torque from a standstill. The manufacturer estimates a naught to 62 acceleration time of 9 seconds or less and an electronically limited top speed of around 145 km/h (90 mph). The most important feature of the EV, its range, is estimated to sit at around 160 km / 100 miles on a single charge.

The electricity is stored in a lithium-ion battery pack developed together with SB LiMotive, whose performances are optimized by the use of a new stable temperature regulation function.

The battery can be charged by a conventional power outlet at public charging stations or at a special wall box. For Europe, the battery can be fully charged at a high-current power outlet (50 ampere) in three hours, while in the US, using a high-current (32 ampere continuous) residential wall box, the charging time increases to 4.5 hours.

The real exciting part about BMW's research for the ActivE is the fact that the technologies were developed by the company's project i, meaning that what we described above may form the backbone of the future Megacity vehicle.

"The drive components used in the BMW Concept ActiveE have been developed as part of project i. The objectives on which this is based are derived from the requirements for the serial production development of a Megacity Vehicle," BMW says in a release

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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