8 ms·

I would like to buy an electric car. I live in a city, so range issues aren't a big deal. But I don't want to pay too much of a premium for an electric car, and

• weinzierl 10y ago
  > I don't want to drive in something that attracts unnecessary attention for looking strange, like the i3 does. I see i3's daily and they blend in well. The only thing that looks strange are the extremely narrow wheels. I think the image you linked is of the concept car the real thing looks more like [1]. [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/BMW_i3_014_BSB_01_2015.JPG https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/BMW_i3_0...
  • seibelj 10y ago
    Fair point, but I still think it looks a little off. Why not make the 3 series electric without any significant restyling? It is a well liked, high-selling model, and I don't see why you need to "weird-it-up" with odd angles and styles.
    • karma_vaccum123 10y ago
      People buying an electric car are already in a mindset for experimenting, so they are good candidates for design departures. BMW and Mercedes have lost their edge in styling, any experimentation is a good thing.
    • weinzierl 10y ago
      It looks a little off, but keep in mind that it is was designed from scratch as an electric car. For example the batteries are not in the trunk but form the bottom of the car which gives the car a very low COG. Most of its internal structure and body is made from carbon-fiber reinforced plastic which has other constraints than metal. It's just not a traditional chassis retrofitted with an electric motor, its a completely new design. Given all that it looks surprisingly normal in my opinion.
    • tehwebguy 10y ago
      They made a plugin hybrid 3 series as well but it's basically just a more expensive 3 series at the end of the day
  • kybishop 10y ago
    The i3's disjointed hood and gigantic bumper give the car a strange look that screams "I'M ELECTRIC!" the same way a Prius does, and the market for cars that scream "I'M ELECTRIC!" is already oversaturated. Until car manufacturers can make an electric car that looks at least as normal as a civic, Americans will shy away. A huge part of the model 3's success is that not only does it look normal, it looks _good_.
    • bengoodger 10y ago
      Have you seen the latest Civic? It's far less conventional looking than past generations. Electric car styling must reflect a desire from the target audience of small city cars, otherwise there wouldn't be a trend towards this aesthetic.
      • kybishop 10y ago
        I still maintain that the portion of the mentioned target audience that wants cars which scream "I'M ELECTRIC" is oversaturated. BMW brought out the i3 with a look comparable to the Prius, or various Euro-style tiny cars, but the Prius already has that market locked, as evidenced by the i3's poor sales. Electric car styling must'nt do anything. The available demographic reaches far past those in cities who want a tiny car. Car manufacturers just need to make cars that look normal so people will buy them for having a car's sake, not because they want to announce their vehicle is electric.
        • TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
          The establish auto manufacturers have a vested interest in keeping the ICE going as long as they can. The long tail of parts, and the whole economic sector of car maintenance, is quite considerable. I think this causes them to want to make their Eva look weird. The Nissan Leaf looks fine for the class of car it's in, but why's it got to be called a leaf.
    • agumonkey 10y ago
      To me it says more "we're the internet/tron generation, we just came early, others are coming soon". Lots of cars are already having similar design language elements. Even new buildings today are going wild.
• jseliger 10y ago
  Obviously the price issues won't be solved for a while BMW is offering leases that have a TCO around $300/mo: http://www.bmwusa.com/special-offers/lease.2016-BMW-i3-with-Range-Extender.html http://www.bmwusa.com/special-offers/lease.2016-BMW-i3-with-..., with a $199/mo sticker price. Especially given the sticker price of the car, that's a pretty fantastic deal. Most current electric and hybrids have much better lease deals than purchase deals. The three-year leases also make sense because by the time they expire, the market will have shaken out in terms of the Tesla Model III, Chevy Bolt, and other 200-mile-range cars.
  • shostack 10y ago
    Makes sense as it is just another way of forcing more of a rental market where people don't actually own their vehicles.
    • achamayou 10y ago
      There's a reasonably good case for not owning batteries, since they depreciate relatively quickly. Some manufacturers like Renault even allow you to buy the car but lease the battery. Internal combustion cars are different, a well-maintained one can be nearly as good years later as it was on the day it left the factory. No chance of that happening on an EV if you don't get a new battery.
      • maxerickson 10y ago
        Does the lessor use magic to change how much it costs them to own the battery? Without multiple parties competing to issue the battery leases, my suspicion is that the primary benefit is to the manufacturer in the form of higher prices than an insurance or warranty model for the finances.
  • honkhonkpants 10y ago
    Leasing an i3 appears to be a terrible deal. I actually tried to do this thing, and I called the dealer and told them to warm up their rubber stamps because I was coming to close the deal. Here's what happened when I showed up: 1: Oh, the deal that we were advertising that I specifically told you over the phone was available actually isn't because [mumble mumble types of bullshit about how that car is a demo etc etc bullshit] but this one comes out to only $10/mo more. 2: Here's the insurance you should buy for the wheels, for $2k, because some asshole at BMW thought that 19" wheels looked really cool, and the metal parts of the really cool 19" wheel stick WAY OUT past the end of the really expensive 19" tire, and you're guaranteed to ruin the wheel the first time you try to parallel park the car, and each of these wheels costs $1500. 3: And furthermore we really suggest you purchase this other insurance policy which covers among other things replacement of the headlamp windows, in case they turn yellow over time. Because, you know, there's no assurance that just because you leased a car with a sticker price of $58k doesn't mean that they didn't make the headlights out of the cheapest plastic they could get their hands on. 4: And more or less a constant parade of nickel-and-dime stuff until finally I got up and walked out. I really fail to see how anyone can make one of these cars pencil out. The operating costs are not all that low. You really need to bring a very high intangible value to driving an electric car before it appears rational.
• timcederman 10y ago
  I put nothing down and pay $147/month to lease a Volkswagen e-Golf. Looks and feels just like a regular Golf, but zippier.
• rodgerd 10y ago
  > But I don't want to pay too much of a premium for an electric car, and I don't want it to look "weird". Just make your normal cars electric. Surely that's the Leaf?
• tehwebguy 10y ago
  In LA you can lease a Fiat 500e for $3500 down and $49 plus tax / month right now. If you have any lease already it's only $2500 down. If you make under like $250k you get $2500 back from CA, $4000 if you make under $36k That is all 36 months, 10k miles per year. I've been researching the EV deals here for like a month and this is basically the cheapest you can get any car for - $2,922.76 total lease cost if you don't have a lease and qualify for the $2500, only $422.76 if you have a lease and qualify for $4000 My guess is it totally sucks though
• mmoss 10y ago
  The 2017 Chevrolet Volt doesn't look weird and has an fully electric range of 53 miles. [0] [0]http://www.chevrolet.com/2016-volt-electric-car.html http://www.chevrolet.com/2016-volt-electric-car.html