For lots of people, this deduction halves the leasing cost, or better. For the time being, the cost of charging an i3 is laughably small – think £1-300 a year if charging at home or at work, based on 10,000 miles a year. Meanwhile, the range-extender version has a nine-litre fuel tank, emits 13g/km of CO2 and has an official mpg figure of 470.8mpg. Yep, that’s no typo: four hundred and seventy, point eight miles per gallon.
Hidden snags?
Are there other hidden snags, like insurance?
BMW has just announced that the BMW i3 is group 21e, which is no dearer than an entry-level 118d.
Other leasing considerations look good on paper. Because of its plastic cladding, the i3 doesn’t ‘ding’ when someone launches the super market trolley into it.
Finally, the maintenance costs appear minimal (think Prius but better), because the electric drive train does away with vast numbers of expensive moving parts, quite apart from latest emission reg diesel complications, like diesel particulate filters.
BMW guarantee the batteries for 100,000 miles or eight years.
Principles matter too
Talking to Jonathan, I’m trying to probe the hard-nosed side of his nature, the one where the money-side has to add up. But it’s not his only consideration.
“I’m keen to support green initiatives and happy to subsidise them if necessary – e.g. we pay more for Green Electricity at home (Ecotricity) and at work (Green Energy). Plus I am a member of pretty much every environmental charity there is.”
He’s not the only person with values, in which case BMW score big points because they’ve sunk an estimated £2 billion into completely reinventing the supply chain of the i3, halving its life time CO2 emissions from cradle-to-grave, including the charging, relative to last year’s ‘World Greenest Car’, the BMW 118d.
In fact BMW will shortly announce a partnership with a green energy provider in the UK, so that i3 owners can know they are juicing up on renewables rather than coal-burnt stuff.
Seen like this, the i3 is the first nearly-guilt-free vehicle to come into existence, but aside from that it puts a great big grin on your face when you drive it too, with scalded-cat acceleration, extraordinary handling and refinement, and a beautiful interior.
