1991 BMW E1 Concept EVolutionary #Blogpost

So it seems that I am discovering a lot of obscure BMW concepts lately and this one is just as, if not more schockingly obscure than the Z13. It debuted at the 1991 Frankfurt Auto show and was the Bavarian motor giant’s first venture into the world of the EV I give to you the 1991 BMW E1 Concept…

Conception

The BMW E1 (Chassis Designation Z11) was concieved to much controversy from the public at the 1991 Frankfurt auto show, however in the end it was merely a demonstration of styling and engineering techniques for a possible compact EV in their line-up. The truth was that BMW were planning to produce a fully electric BMW 3 Series and they gave an optimistic sales prediction of 40,000 a year however this in the end did not happen and EV technology has only recently appeared on the F80 3 series in the shape of the 330e. Anyway back to the E1, many thought it to be a front wheel driven vehicle based on its economy car looks of a ping pong ball,but t’was not the case. In actual fact the E1 was rear driven just like every other model of the time! (E30,E34 etc.)

Quirks,Features and Performance

The BMW E1 featured many quirks, as is from many concepts, one of the most notable being the plug to charge it. This was located behind the left part of the traditional kidney grille and once plugged in could charge to 100% in just a few hours and onto a range of 150 miles which was completely unheard of for the time with most electric cars struggling to reach the 100 mile range! The range on it is also about the same as the E1’s son the i3 23 years after. Power was around 37Kw (50hp) and was limited to a top speed of 75mph which was rather reasonable for an early electric vehicle. The curb weight was never disclosed but the bodywork was produced from aluminium and plastic so it would have been reasonably light. So overall the E1 was not a bad foundation for BMW to build upon.

Fate

However a terrible incident befell the E1 during a charging session in which it caught fire, the fire destroyed the only prototype with it and BMW’s shot at producing a production EV. This fire was so catastrophic that BMW had to terminate the electric drive program that the Technik division had been working on for years! And so in the end BMW fell away from the EV market and continued to produce fuel powered vehicles that we all know and love. A rather unfortunate end to a rather promising project…

Conclusion

To conclude, the E1 was a rather promising project but the inevitable reliability issues destroyed its chance to revolutionise the EV market as we see it today and to have potenitially seen an EV 3 series about 20 years ago, but alas fate took hold of the poor concept. The E1 went on to inspire many EV cars, possibly even the GM EV1!

Anyway here ends the #Blogpost
I hope you enjoyed!

Pokecraft The Car Catcher
Lover of Anime and Cars alike