BMW unveils Megacity E-car plans

25 February 2010

BMWs two-year old plans for the Megacity family of electric cars will now call Leipzig, Germany, its home.

The German automaker announced last Monday that its factory in Leipzig

BMWs two-year old plans for the Megacity family of electric cars will now call Leipzig, Germany, its home.

The German automaker announced last Monday that its factory in Leipzig will be the manufacturing hub for its whole range of electric cars. The plant opened in 2005 and can produce approximately 730 units per day.

Meanwhile, the automakers home state plants in Bavaria will produce the components needed for the electric cars.

BMW revealed that it will use lithium ion batteries from SB LiMotive, a joint venture of Bosch and Samsung SDI. They will also utilise lightweight carbon fibre parts from its own joint project with SGL Group.

It is expected that the initial Megacity models will be available by second half of 2013.

BMW will use the Concept Active E program to test out and improve the drive train of the electric cars.

As the name implies, the BMWs Active E cars, which was developed under Project I, are desgined for commuters working and living in or near traffic-impacted megacities of the world with a 10 million population or more.

BMW Megacity concept car shows direction company is taking as it explores electric vehicles for large cities, the automaker said.

The Active E cars powertrain testing will start next year. The fleet testing will be under a programme similar to the ongoing worldwide test of 600 battery-electric Mini E models.

BMW announced last August that the line of Megacity cars will be sold as a sub-brand, just like the companys Mini car line-up

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