At the online conference of the domestic BMW X5L on March 31, in addition to the X5L listing and announcing the price, BMW's new i3 was also listed and announced at the same time. Compared with the X5L, a luxury brand full-size SUV that was first domestically produced, the attention of the i3 as a pure electric vehicle is very low.
If the X5 represents BMW's glory in the fuel era, then the i3 represents the decline of BMW's era of electrification. "What era, the oil to electricity model is still out of the flicker, BMW is too insincere." This may be a pertinent evaluation of the BMW i3.
"Oil to electricity" for China's exclusive supply
According to BMW's publicity, the i3 is a pure electric medium-sized sports car tailored for the Chinese market, with 3 series evolution electric. In layman's terms, the i3 is a 3 Series "oil to electricity" model exclusively supplied by BMW for China.
We can see this from the actual car of the i3. The front face of the i3 has a distinctly motorized feature, and the sides and tail are distinctly similar to the 3 Series, but appear more bloated than the 3 Series. In terms of size, the length, width and height of the i3 are 4872mm/1846mm/1481mm, and the wheelbase is 2966mm, which is larger and longer than the BMW 3 Series long wheelbase version.
Although the i3 is called a pure electric car, it is surprising that there is a drum bag in the center of the back row. This is a design that only exists on BMW 3 Series fuel vehicles, and the drum bag in the middle is the drive shaft, because the BMW 3 Series is a rear-drive model. While the motor layout of the i3 is a rear single motor, the real electric vehicle does not need a drive shaft at all. It seems that in order to reduce costs, BMW's "oil to electricity" even bothered to change the mold. Therefore, we say that i3 is on the basis of the 3 series "increase the size + replace the new energy power", the appearance has made some adjustments to adapt to the electric vehicle, and the electrification element has been added.
In fact, this is not the first time that BMW has "changed oil to electricity". The BMW iX3, which was launched in November 2020, is based on the fuel version of the BMW X3. According to the data, bmw iX3 cumulative sales in 2021 is 21814 vehicles, january to February this year's cumulative retail sales of 3203 vehicles, the average monthly sales of less than 2000 vehicles. More notably, the BMW iX3 has been on the market for just over a year, and four recalls have been launched in the Chinese market, with a variety of problems, and it can be said that the iX3 is a failed model. (See the first lane previous report: the level of building trams is not as good as that of its own brand BMW iX3 treats the owner as a guinea pig; real-name complaint: BMW iX3 battery failure, BMW uses technology upgrades to evade responsibility)
More than 300,000 yuan to buy a lonely?
As an electric vehicle priced at 349,900 yuan, the i3 is indeed not cheap in the electric vehicle market, after all, it is BMW.
When we look at the configuration table of the i3, we will find that many of these configurations need to be added to the optional. Simulated sound wave 1900 yuan, front seat heating 3500 yuan, seat waist support 1400 yuan, adaptive far and near light 3200 yuan, keyless entry and electric tailgate total 8400 yuan, 360 ° panoramic image 8600 yuan, ACC adaptive cruise 5900 yuan, automatic parking 8600 yuan, automatic driving assistance system Pro to 19900 yuan.
If you don't have the option, the i3 configuration you buy is not even as high as the BMW 1 Series. However, if you want to choose some configuration, plus insurance and other costs, the price of i3 landing on the road has to run 400,000 yuan. What is particularly incomprehensible is that the technology content such as ACC adaptive cruise, automatic parking and adaptive far and near light is not high, and many independent brands in the price range of 100,000 yuan have been equipped with these functions as standard, and i3 even needs to add money to choose. Some car friends in the circle of car friends exclaimed: "Actually dare to sell 300,000 yuan", and some car friends frankly said: "At this price, the technology configuration is so small, buy a lonely ah." ”
Admittedly, the i3 also brought us some surprises. For example, there are some configurations on the i3 that the 3 Series does not have: the original anti-roll rod, hrS hydraulic rebound shock absorption, rear adaptive air suspension, front suspension top tie rod, etc. in order to improve the control of the configuration. BMW said that these configurations have further improved the rigidity of the i3's body, making the driving of bumpy road conditions more smooth and comfortable. However, some netizens speculated: "The use of air suspension is because the battery pack behind is too heavy." The 5 series plug-in mix is also air suspension, and it is a last resort."
According to the analysis, it is likely that because of the increase in the bottom battery pack of the i3, the entire chassis system needs to be strengthened, and a stronger damping and spring coefficient is needed to support the weight of more than 2 tons, but in this way, the comfort of the vehicle will be greatly reduced, so BMW chose to balance with air springs and HRS hydraulic rebound shock absorption.
The i3's power performance has no highlights
Handling has always been BMW's well-built business card, and the i3 also prides itself on being a pure electric sports car, so let's take a look at the power data of the i3 in the competition.
Direct competitors of the BMW i3 include the Tesla Model 3, WEILAI ET5 and other mainstream electric vehicles in the market.
We take the Tesla Model 3 single-motor rear-drive version (priced at 290,988 yuan) as an example, which is equipped with a 60kwh battery, clTC cruising range of 556 kilometers, and zero hundred acceleration time of 6.1 seconds. Compared with the BMW i3, the range is 30 kilometers behind, the acceleration data is very similar, and the other differences between the two are mainly in size and price. If you compare tesla Model 3 Performance high-performance all-wheel drive version (priced at 367,900 yuan), it is equipped with a 78.4kwh battery, CLTC cruising range of 675 kilometers, zero hundred acceleration time of 3.3 seconds. Compared with the BMW i3, the cruising range is 149 kilometers behind, the acceleration data is lagging behind by 2.9 seconds, and it is at a disadvantage in terms of performance.
The NIO ET5 (75kwh) battery version is priced at 328,000 yuan, the CLTC has a cruising range of 550 kilometers, equipped with dual motors in front and rear, and zero hundred acceleration time is 4.3 seconds. Compared with the BMW i3, the mileage difference is only 24 kilometers, but the BMW i3 is only equipped with a single motor, and the acceleration capacity is 1.9 seconds behind.
In the case of similar prices, the performance of the BMW i3 is obviously inferior to the opponent; and in the case of similar performance, the price of the BMW i3 is significantly higher than that of the opponent, in addition to the blue sky and white cloud car logo, we really can't find a reason to choose the i3.
BMW's electrification is "oil to electricity"?
In fact, BMW also launched an electric car called the i3 almost a decade ago, which is a small car similar to the Mercedes-Benz Smrt.
When the i3 went on the market in 2013, electric vehicles were definitely new. The i3 showed the world two amazing numbers at the time, one was the vehicle weight of 1224 kg, and the other was a cruising range of 120 km. One of the i3's big selling points is that the body uses a lot of carbon fiber material, and carbon fiber is a very expensive material, up to $20 per kilogram, compared to less than $1 per kilogram of traditional steel materials. Unfortunately, this i3 has not opened the market and is expected to be discontinued in July this year.
Of course, this i3 is not the other i3, and the newly released i3 has nothing to do with the i3 listed in 2013. However, we can see from the historical origins of the i3 that BMW is a real forerunner in electric vehicles.
How did the former forerunners fall into the situation of "oil to electricity" to fool things? In terms of the product strength of BMW i3, there is not only a big gap with Tesla Model 3, but also a big gap with independent brands Xiaopeng P7 and Weilai ET7.
China is currently the world's largest electric vehicle market, "oil to electricity" can not fool the well-informed consumers, we hope that BMW can really come up with the sincerity of making electric vehicles, in the electrification track for consumers to create real value.