Quite some time has passed since we featured futuristic renderings of BMW vehicles. Latest one comes from Amadou Ndiaye, an industrial design graduate from Université de Montréal, who decided to use his knowledge and talent to draw out a futuristic BMW i1 model.
“As its name suggests, this concept has three wheels and is expected to be included within the range “i” introduced by BMW in 2011,” says Ndiaye.
“It is of course an electric vehicle that is supposed to put together the experience of driving a motorbike with the safety of a car. That’s the main reason the two front wheels lean when taking corners thanks to a hydraulic system combined with the onboard computer which adjusts the tilt of the wheels depending on the vehicle speed.
This one seat vehicle has a carbon chassis and is powered by 3 motors located at each wheel. This concept provides a link between the experience gained by BMW in the world of automobile and motorcycles; in addition it also shows that electric vehicles can also be linked to the philosophy of (expensive) driving pleasure of the German brand.”
BMW is not a stranger of three-wheeled vehicles. In late 2009, the Munich-based automaker unveiled the CLEVER Concept, short for Compact Low Emission Vehicle. The concept was designed for Urban Transport as part of the Project i program to produce practical, low-emission city vehicles. At the time, the company said CLEVER was built as a three-wheeled vehicle powered by a natural gas engine and measure 3 meters long, 1 meter wide and 1.4 meters tall, weighs in at under 400 kilograms.
But the first production vehicle to emerge under the new i sub-brand is the city-friendly and highly efficient BMW i3. The small, premium compact electric vehicle will go on sale in 2013.
Author: Horatiu Boeriu
Source: http://www.bmwblog.com/2011/08/15/artis ... ng-bmw-i1/