Mark the date of the North American International Auto Show in your calendar – because it is shaping up to be an exciting event for green car enthusiasts.

The latest company to announce the debut of a new concept at the event is BMW, which will unveil its Concept ActiveE – the latest electric vehicle under its initiative to produce vehicles that explore solutions to minimise environmental impact.

The vehicle is based on the BMW1 Series Coupe and follows the electric MINI E as the second large scale electric vehicle test program to be conducted in the hands of interested consumers. The insights gathered will then be used to develop an electrically powered serial production vehicle under a sub brand of BMW in the first half of the next decade.

As for the BMW Concept ActiveE itself, it includes a specially developed motor that delivers 125kW/170hp with a maximum torque of 250Nm. It is capable of accelerating from 0-60mph in 8.5 seconds. The electric drive system meanwhile, comes with an advanced, liquid cooled lithium-ion battery pack that has been developed both by BMW and its partner SB LiMotive. It has a range of around 100miles on a single charge.

This purely electric powered BMW also allows for controlled deceleration and acceleration in that as soon as the driver’s foot is removed from the accelerator, the electric motor converts the vehicle’s kinetic energy into electric power and stores it in the battery pack. A special heating and air conditioning system has also been developed which is supplied by energy from the high voltage battery via a vehicle power network. The driver can heat or cool the interior using an auxiliary heating or air conditioning system – an option that is available when the vehicle is connected to a charging station and the battery is fully charged.