BMW is ‘calling all electronauts’ as it opens the recruitment process for drivers interested in leasing its first electric car model as part of trials taking place in the US.
From this week, the German car maker begins the hunt for 700 drivers in the Boston, Hartford, New York, Los Angeles, Sacremento, San Diego and San Francisco areas. The electric car, based on the car maker’s 1 Series model will be available to lease in these first trial regions for $499 a month on a 24 month contract with a down payment of $2,250.
With vehicles available on a first come, first served basis, interested motorists are advised to head to www.bmwusa.com/ActiveE to apply to take part in the trial.
The first field trials of the prototype models then commence as drivers join the trial, with similar trials to take place in Europe and China too. In total, BMW expects to trial 1,100 of the ActiveE vehicles, produced at the firm’s plant in Leipzig, Germany. The details of trials in other regions have yet to be confirmed, but we know that the trials of the ActiveE will prove an important part in the car maker’s plans to electrify its range. The firm hopes that findings from the field trial will provide direct insight into series production of its first purpose-built, mass-produced electric vehicles, the BMW i3 in 2013 and the i8 in 2014.
The ActiveE car has a 32 Kwh lithium-ion battery, that delivers a range of around 100 miles, coupled with a 125 kW electric synchronous motor that drives the rear wheels. It takes around eight seconds to reach 60mph and has a limited top speed of 90mph.
