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Showing posts with label CFRP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CFRP. Show all posts
Monday, June 20, 2011
According to BMWCOOP and some of my other sources, the BMW i3 as well as the i8 may be formally introduced as early as late July. This goes against most reports that the i3 will be seen for the very first time at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.
While BMW has shown pre-production i8's in videos, they have never shown the public an i3 in the flesh and have only provided vague sketches of the car that is hoped to revolutionize the electric car market, setting new standards for efficiency as well as being the first-ever mass produced car that is made entirely of lightweight carbon fiber reinforced plastic and aluminum. This car may very well pave the way for BMW as well as other major OEM's to offer dramatically lighter, more efficient cars that require less energy to operate.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
BMW Carbon Fibers Factory in Moses Lake, WA is Completed and Ready To Begin Production
0 comments Posted by crue at 12:33 PM
It may not be much to look at in the above picture, but this newly constructed factory in Moses Lake, Washington will play a big role in the BMW i3 and probably many other future BMW vehicles.
BMW, along with the SGL Group built this facility in Moses Lake primarily because they will be able to take advantage of the inexpensive electricity which is mostly all generated by hydro power. Besides the cheap electric rates, this renewable way of generating electricity is in line with BMW's commitment to sustainability, and allows them to make the energy-intensive carbon fiber material without producing nearly as much pollution as they would if they were using electricity from a coal burning power plant.
This facility will employ 80 workers by the end of this year and up to 200 once all six buildings on the campus are completed and operational. With these plans, it's obvious that BMW intends on using CFRP in many more vehicles than only the i3. This is more evidence the i3 may just be the "revolutionary" vehicle that BMW has been touting it as. The combination of the highly efficient electric drivetrain, the newly developed lithium-ion battery cells that are nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry and the extensive use of advanced materials sounds like the engineers have been busy at work.
Hopefully the designers do as good a job on the vehicles appearance. It's hard to tell what's under all the camouflage in the spy photo's we have seen, but the overall shape doesn't really capture the sleek, streamlined look that the BMW-released rendering appeared to have. However we'll have to wait until we see an actual pre-production i3 without all the camouflage to really critique the design. Rumor has it we'll only have to wait until the Frankfurt Auto Show in September...
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
BMW Recruiting Engineers to Focus on Lightweight, Carbon-Fiber Composites
0 comments Posted by crue at 6:23 PM
According to this report BMW is recruiting 40 engineers that specialize in carbon fiber to join the i3 and i8 development teams.
The photo above is the frame of the i3 during crash testing simulations. This further proves BMW's commitment to the extensive use of CFRP in their future models, particularly vehicles in the new i line.
The i3 will eventually have three variations. The initial i3, the one we have been focusing on here will be a three door hatchback that seats four and is scheduled to be release in 2013. Rumors have it that this version will be then offered with an onboard range extending, gasoline powered generator. A few years later, there will be a smaller two seat hatchback with a smaller range for inner city driving, and then a five seat, four door version that is larger then the original i3 and will have a larger battery with a range at least as great as the original i3.
BMW may be joining the EV party a bit later than some competitors, but they certainly have some grand plans for the next three to five years. This recent news about hiring more engineers that specialize in CFRP only adds credibility to their commitment to light weight, highly efficient electric and plug in hybrid vehicles. That's good news in my book.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
One of the main goals BMW had with the development of the Megacity car now known as the i3, was to reduce the weight as much as possible while providing a strong, safe passenger cell. The extensive use of carbon fiber reinforced plastics or CFRP, has allowed them to do just that. While the use of CFRP isn't a new idea in the automotive industry, using it as extensively as BMW is on the i3 is groundbreaking. It's been written that by using CFRP as extensively as they are, it has cut the weight of the vehicle by as much as 700lbs. This will allow BMW to use less of the expensive batteries and still hit their target 100 mile range. That will also reduce cost and further reduce weight since the batteries are also heavy. The above video talks about how BMW is using CFRP and references the i3 a couple times.
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