The Fun Minivan

The 230e Active Tourer PHEV delivers 240 kW/326 hp and 480 Nm of torque, thanks to a combination of the combustion engine with 110 kW/150 hp and an electric motor – 130 kW/177 hp. The official performance figures put the 230e Active Tourer at 5.5 seconds for the standard sprint. The electric range is 90 km (56 miles) on the WLTP cycle, coming from a battery pack of 14.2 kWh (16.3 kWh gross). The electric motor is positioned at the rear axle, so thanks to its higher power output, the power distribution is often sent to the rear wheels. Who knew you can almost get a rear-wheel driven 2 Series Active Tourer?

The high voltage battery is placed in the underfloor structure of the 230e Active Tourer, therefore, the new minivan has a fairly low center of gravity which translates into a more dynamic and fun driving experience. The standard 2 Series Active Tourer has 470 liters of cargo space, but fold the rear seats and its cargo space expands for 1,455 liters. Hybrid models lose a bit of space, dropping to 406/1,370 liters. CO2 emissions are impressively low – between 22 and 30 g/km. Same goes for the fuel consumption  – 1.4-1.1 L/100 km, enough for an estimated range of 600 km/h.

Snappy And Efficient

To sample the first-ever BMW 23oe Active Tourer PHEV, we went for a spirited drive around Malaga, Spain. A lead car takes us through city center first where we get to experience the all-electric drivetrain and its regenerative braking. The intelligent system can automatically detect a car in front and will adjust the amount of braking accordingly. But if you put the car into Sport Mode, then the one-pedal feel takes over.

This is the most aggressive mode of the regen braking, yet the integration between the electric motor and the braking system is extremely smooth and almost unnoticeable. According to the BMW engineers on site, the braking system only takes over when the level of deceleration is 0.15 g. The Boost mode is another lovely feature in the new BMW 230e Active Tourer. A paddle shifter behind the steering wheel will activate the “fun mode” offering additional acceleration power for up to 10 seconds.

The 230e Active Tourer certainly feels faster than the quoted 5.5 seconds sprint, despite being about 200 kilograms heavier than the 223i. The steering is on the light side, but that’s expected from this platform, while the suspension’s firmness can greatly vary from Comfort to Sport Mode. The driving experience is certainly more enjoyable than the pure ICE models and it often feels more like an EV than hybrid.

The test sample was quite short, around 45 minutes of city and mountain roads driving, so there isn’t enough data to assess the electric range. But the onboard computer showed a real life range of 80 kilometers. Of course, that will vastly vary from driver to driver.

Should I Buy One?

BMW’s 230e Active Tourer is not only the rockstar of the minivan family, but of the entire PHEV lineup at the moment. It’s likely that future BMWs will adopt this drivetrain, but until then, the 230e Active Tourer offers a unique proposition to customers and we can see why it could become a huge volume car for the brand. It’s practical and eco-friendly, and will make for a fun minivan picking up your kids from school.

The post BMW 230e Active Tourer – A Quick And Fun PHEV Minivan appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

For now, we can’t really tell what its full exterior will look like, as there’s incredibly heavy camo wrapped around the body, to keep prying eyes away. However, one thing the engineers couldn’t hide (actually they were forced by the law) were the stickers on the doors. They say, loud and clear, that this is a ‘Hybrid Test Vehicle’. Therefore, this serves as the best possible confirmation that the next M5 will get a hybrid setup, even though BMW has been mum on the topic so far.

For now though, we don’t know exactly what kind of drivetrain we’re looking at here. Sure, we know it will have electric assistance, but what about the internal combustion engine? Will it be a V8? Will it be a straight-six? We just don’t know right now. Most likely, it will be the same powertrain that will find itself under the sheet metal of the BMW XM once it comes out, which would make it an S68 twin-turbo V8 with electric assistance, good for up to 750 horsepower on the top-tier models.

In any eventuality, there’s no playing around when it comes to keep that engine cool and the weight in check. Even though this M5 prototype is under heavy camo, the front end has a lot of open slats in it, to feed air into the engine bay. Furthermore, the brake discs look huge and they are perforated, giving off the impression that they can keep this car’s weight in check. And they will be hard pressed because the upcoming M5, with its hybrid drivetrain and everything, will most likely gain some serious weight.

The post Next 2023 BMW M5 will likely be a plug-in hybrid – Spy Photos appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

Thanks to 4Matic+ all-wheel drive, AMG claims a 0-60 mph time of 2.9 seconds. Considering the current AMG GT 63 S 4-Door is faster than that already, expect somewhere closer to 2.5 seconds.

There’s no question now; AMG’s competitors need to go hybrid. Mercedes-AMG just threw down the gauntlet. A super sedan with over 1,000 lb-ft of near-instantaneous torque is almost unheard of and it will likely be the fastest car in the segment until someone else puts out its own hybrid or electric performance car.

Of course, BMW M and Audi Sport have been working on hybrid tech for awhile now. Neither has put out a product, though. The real power move would be for BMW to make the next M5 entirely electric.

The post Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance hybrid makes 831 horsepower appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

The BMW X4 came out first in 2014 while the Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupe followed just a year later. From then on out, it looked like the two SUV Coupe models were simply waiting for their third friend to show up for the playdate and it just kept on running late. Finally, some five years later, the Q5 Sportback popped up.

The Q5 Coupe

In true Audi fashion, the Sportback nameplate means that this is a sort of Coupe version of the very popular Q5 SUV. Yes, it’s that kind of car that doesn’t really make sense and yet it will sell rather well, if its rivals are anything to go by. The Q5 Sportback came out along with the facelift of the current Audi Q5 SUV and it shares a lot with it, from design to the platform underneath.

In terms of exterior design, you’ll notice a lot of familiar shapes. Up front, the unibody grille dominates the front fascia with similar design lines as the Q5 SUV. The headlamps have a similar design, the side scuttles and even the wheels are similar up to a point. Everything is basically the same up until you reach the B-pillar. From there towards the end of the car everything starts going down. Literally.

Since this is supposed to be a Sportback model, its roofline is obligated to slope towards the tailgate. It gives the car a more aggressive look overall while the tailgate houses a new design for the taillights. You can fit a number of OLED taillights on the Q5 Sportback, with different designs and animations, catering to your preferences.

The Downsides Of A Sloping Roofline

The sloping roofline also cuts into the headroom in the back and the usable space available in the boot. According to Audi, you only lose 6 millimeters of headroom, so that’s not terribly bad. But, when it comes to the boot, things don’t go over so smoothly. The boot has just 475 liters of space, mainly because of its shape but also because, this being a plug-in hybrid and all, it needs some of the room to store the battery.

But that’s the only place where you’ll notice a difference compared to a non-hybrid version in the range. Get inside the cabin and you’ll be met with a lot of room up front, both for the head and the elbows. The fit and finish is up to par with the usual Audi standards and the Q5 Sportback felt like it was built to last 50 years.

The Typical Audi Interior

No squeaks, not creaks and everything was flush and perfectly integrated. Since the Q5 Sportback shares its MLB Evo platform with its older brother, some things inside the cabin are exactly the same.

The dashboard, for example, is identical and so is the screen on top of it. Whereas in newer models you get an infotainment screen embedded into the dash, on the Q5 Sportback that’s not the case. As a matter of fact, the screen looks so out of place you start wondering whether it retracts into the dash or not. It doesn’t.

Other than that, though, there’s little to complain about. There are some areas covered in piano black that will show every single fingerprint, dust and scratches, and there’s almost no adequate place where you can put your phone. I know it may sound odd, but we’re so deeply connected with our phones and there’s just nowhere to put in in the center console. At least the storage space inside the center armrest is huge.

The seats of our tester were the optional S-Line ones. As a matter of fact, the car was wearing the S-Line package and it made it feel and look a lot more aggressive than usual. The leather upholstery and the Alcantara center patches felt nice to the touch while the side bolstering of the seats kept me in place while thoroughly enjoying the resources of the engine-motor combo, without feeling too harsh on longer trips.

Just like the Q5, the instrument cluster is digital with a high resolution, and all the info you could possibly need. The steering wheel right has a nice touch to it, with perforated leather and a red S at the bottom, to remind you of the optional package installed on the car.

As for the rear seats, they are a bit more cramped than on the regular Q5 but you’ll have enough room if you’re about 6-ft tall. Anything above that and you might be a bit uncomfortable. That’s understandable though as, even though the wheelbase and width of the car are the same as on the Q5, the roof is some 62 millimeters lower, at a total of 1,600 millimeters in height for the car.

Shared Drivetrains With The Q5

As for the drivetrains, they too are shared with the rest of the Q5 range and a lot of other models in the VAG line-up. Our tester though was the most powerful Audi Q5 Sportback you can buy today, aside from the SQ5. This was the Audi Q5 Sportback 55 TFSIe. As the name suggests, it is a hybrid.

If you want to buy a plug-in hybrid Q5 Sportback you have two choices: the Audi Q5 50 TFSIe or the 55 TFSIe. And even though the names suggest that there’s a lot more going on under the hood of the latter, that’s not exactly true.

Regardless which one you get, you’ll have the same powertrain layout available. That’s a 2-liter, 4-cylinder turbocharged petrol mill making 265 HP and 370 Nm hooked up to an additional electric motor, good for 143 HP and 350 Nm of torque. The battery is also the same: 14.4 kWh usable, stored in the same space in the boot.

So, what’s the deal then? Well, Audi decided to separate the two, performance-wise, using a different software. If the 50 TFSIe can deliver up to 299 HP and 450 Nm of torque at most, using both power sources, the 55 TFSIe can deliver up to 367 HP and 500 Nm of torque. So it’s all down to software, otherwise the two cars are identical.

Driving Experience

We were lucky enough to be handed the keys to the 55 TFSIe, which is, as we already mentioned, the most powerful Q5 you can buy today. However, it’s not also the fastest. That’s because all those electric goodies added to it make it heavy. To be more precise, a 55 TFSIe model is exactly 300 kilos heavier than a non-PHEV counterpart and that matters when it comes to handling and performance. That’s why, the less powerful SQ5 is faster to 100 km/h from standstill by 0.2 seconds, compared to the 5.3 seconds the 55 TFSIe model needs.

You can feel that extra weight in other cases too. The suspension, for example, had to be reinforced to cope with the added kilos and that takes a toll on the ride quality. Don’t get me wrong, the Q5 is a master at absorbing the wrinkles in the road, but over certain surfaces it will transmit some of the jolts inside the cabin and, through the seats, into your backside. Furthermore, at times, those jolts will also make themselves heard.

And it’s not just the comfort that has to suffer, it’s the handling too. We already know that having the most power in the range doesn’t make the 55 TFSIe model the fastest in a straight line. But I have a hunch that it’s even worse if you were to take it to a track. There’s a decent amount of lateral grip, when you decide to push this car to see how well it can handle, but as the speed piles on, so are the forces pushing you out of the ideal line. The tires start to squeal and understeer pops up, ruining the fun.

But this approach might not be the best at the end of the day. The Audi Q5 Sportback 55 TFSIe was not designed to be a track queen. It was engineered to cater to the needs of those wanting some stylish German car in the parking lot, to be used mainly around town, where the PHEV would really shine. And that’s exactly where it feels most at home.

Drive it around town and the Q5 Sportback is a rewarding companion. It’s eerily quiet inside the cabin, especially since you’ll be doing a lot of driving in EV mode, and it offers a commanding view of the road ahead. It’s comfortable and, if you’re careful, you can get a decent amount of electric range out of it.

To this end, we tested it out over several days, in different driving scenarios. The car starts off in EV mode if the battery is charged. However, if you want, you can choose from three other modes as well, using a dedicated button located under the HVAC panel. You can go for Auto-Hybrid mode, which lets the car decide what powerplant to use or two modes that allow you to either recharge the battery up to a certain percentage, using the internal combustion engine, or maintain the current state of charge.

With a full battery, the average electric range recorded around town was 48 kilometers (30 miles) with an energy consumption around 28 kWh/100 km covered. That’s a bit shy of the 60 kilometers claimed by Audi but still pretty decent.

Go outside the city limits and the car can drive in electric mode at speeds up to 140 km/h but not for long. After that, you’ll be relying solely on the internal combustion engine and the average fuel consumption recorded was 6.5 l/100 km (36.2 mpg) which isn’t bad at all, considering you rarely get to use the electric motor.

The 2-liter, 265 HP petrol mill does its job rather well and you rarely hear any noise from it inside the cabin. Furthermore, even after the battery shows 0% charge in the on-board computer, the car still has a buffer available so that you can actually drive the Q5 Sportback TFSIe as a regular full-hybrid. That also means you get a small boost from it, in case you need it, under hard acceleration.

However, as it is the case with every plug-in hybrid out there, you really have to be sure you need such a setup before committing to buy. Plug-in hybrid cars have a very limited scenario in which they actually work. They have to be recharged and used at least partially as electric vehicles, to make any sort of sense.

Hybrid Or Conventional Powertrains?

If you’re going to buy this car and only charge it occasionally, you’re better off with a ‘regular’ petrol or diesel powered Q5. At least you won’t be carrying an additional 300 kilos with you everywhere, increasing your fuel consumption. Instead, if you can charge your car every day (either at work or at home) and use it as an electric vehicle at least half the time, the Audi Q5 55 TFSIe is for you, provided the electric range is enough for your needs.

The post 2021 Audi Q5 Sportback 55 TFSIe – Test Drive and Review appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

Just like it’s the case in Stuttgart and Munich, the Ingolstadt team might also have a problem with its exterior design. There’s been a lot of talk surrounding the look of a lot of new cars on the roads today and how they are nothing more than the same design but on a different scale. Mercedes-Benz has been heavily criticized for that, especially on the older generation C-Class, E-Class and S-Class models and there’s no sign of any change in the distance.

BMW, on the other hand, admitted that cars are starting to be a bit boring and tried something new. You can hardly mistake a 3 Series, 4 Series, 5 Series or 7 Series anymore these days, thanks to various reinterpretations of their grilles and other trademark design cues. However, this change of pace happening in Munich hasn’t been exactly a breeze, as a lot of people immediately started complaining about this new approach. So what did Audi do? Stuck to their guns, of course.

German brands are known for certain things and when they decide to change something, the process takes time. And when it comes to design, things are to be taken into careful consideration, because this is what sells the car for most people.

New Design And Tech

Just like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, Audi has a certain way of doing things. The flagship is unveiled at a certain point in time, after which every single car coming out in the upcoming 7 years will follow in its footsteps, be it in terms of design or technology. That was definitely the case for the new A8 which was the one who introduced us to a host of new technologies and new design cues.

From the outside, the A8 looks stately, elegant and incredibly well built. The Singleframe grille up front dominates the front fascia and is covered in chrome, an old-school way of signaling we’re in the presence of a premium automobile. There’s a lot of that material on the new A8, on all sides, but the front end gets the most of it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not necessarily a bad thing but maybe we should reconsider this whole Chrome = Luxury thing at one point.

Move to the sides and you’ll notice the classic sedan features that you’d expect from an A8. There’s an inherent balance to the design of this car, it’s clean cut and simple, featuring chrome on the bottom side of the doors and around the windows. What you will notice though is the rather long overhang at the back, with a considerable distance from the wheels to the end of the rear bumper.

Round the back, the same chrome details will catch your eyes first, on the boot lid and the bumper, mimicking a set of tailpipes at the very bottom. That’s because there are no visible tailpipes on the A8, unless you chip in the S8 model.

Plenty Of Luxury and Tech Inside

Step inside and you’ll feel very familiar if you’ve been in a recent Audi model. As I said, the A8 dictates how the rest of the line-up should look like inside and there are no surprises here. The materials used are of the best quality and the fit and finish pretty much perfect. Everywhere you look or touch, a good mix of materials awaits. Our tester had an Alcantara roof liner, open-pore wood veneers on the dash and doors, and Nappa leather seats all around, with the S-line logo embossed in the front ones. Needless to say, these seats were also heated, cooled and could massage you on the way to your very important meeting.

What I love the most about new Audi models, at least when it comes to their interiors, is the way the infotainment screen is embedded into the general dashboard layout. Unlike in other cars, like the 7 Series or the S-Class, the infotainment screen inside the A8 feels and looks like it belongs there. It’s beautifully integrated into the overall design of the cabin and simply works.

When the A8 was introduced, the world also got to see the way they wanted to have customers operate the HVAC controls, which was yet another touchscreen, positioned under the infotainment system’s. I was among those criticizing this approach at first, I have to admit, claiming it would only distract you from the road. But it actually kind-of works. That’s because the touch-sensitive screens inside this car offer haptic feedback. Not only that, but you also have to press rather hard on a certain button, to get it to do what you want it to, as a simple touch wouldn’t suffice. That makes the whole system work better than expected. And there’s a lot more technology on-board the A8 as well.

The Audi A8 became the first car in the world to offer Level 3 autonomous functions when it first came out but various problems made it rain on Audi’s parade, even though their system was cutting edge. Even today, you can only get this system in certain countries, because of legal issues, as most analysts feared when the topic of autonomous cars first started coming into the limelight. How do you plan for self-driving cars from a legal point of view? Most states around the world explicitly say that you can’t have a car driving on public roads, with nobody actually doing the driving. That’s why, Audi’s Level 3 autonomous driving functions are limited to a handful of countries which actually made an effort to make them legal.

New Air Suspension and 48V System

Then there’s the clever, new air suspension introduced on the A8, that uses a 48V electrical system to adjust every single damper independently, on the fly. The cars fitted with this optional feature, have a camera embedded in the windshield, which scans the road ahead and adjusts every wheel independently, depending on the road surface, so that you can be as comfy as possible inside. Unfortunately, this system is not a standard feature in the A8, not even in the higher-tier models like the one we had for reviewing purposes, the 60 TFSI e, so I cannot tell you whether it works as intended or not.

What I can say though is that the standard air suspension the A8 has (and our tester was fitted with) does offer a very comfortable overall experience, on par with the standard setups available on the 7 Series or S-Class. It soaks up the bumps effortlessly and complains about the road surface only when sharp edges meet the 20” wheels at an unsavory speed. That’s when a thump will be making its way into the cabin by means of the dampers.

Scanning the road ahead isn’t the only trick in the book of this next-gen suspension. Audi also worked on the active safety side of things on the A8 and the car now comes with sensors meant to keep you as safe as possible in all types of events. For example, in case of an impending crash, the car can raise either side by several centimeters, in order to make sure most of the force of the impact is absorbed by the sills, not the doors.

This way, your life could be saved and I have to say the Audi pre-sense system actually works and it’s a bit on the edge all the time. During my time with the car, I got to see it in action, even though it was a false alarm. As I was stopped at a red light, the car noticed a cyclist coming right for the rear end of the vehicle with considerable speed and triggered the safety protocol. The side windows were closed shut in a matter of milliseconds, the seatbelt pulled me into the seat while the seat itself puffed up in anticipation of a collision. An Audi Pre-Sense warning popped up on the screen while the hazard lights were automatically put on and a warning sound was played through the speakers. Fortunately, this was just a false alarm but I felt confident from then on out that whatever happened, I would be as safe as possible in a modern-day car.

All of that happened in the early stages of my time with the A8 and I often think that I noticed all of those systems working even more because of the utter silence this car offers when setting off. This was not only due to the perfect sound deadening Audi deployed on the A8, but also because this was a plug-in hybrid model, the first in the 27-year history of the luxurious limousine’s life span. And that means exactly what you think it means: this car was meant to be driven relying solely on the electrons stored in the battery for as long as possible.

Lots Of Power, Thanks To Hybrid System

On the spec side of things, the 60 TFSI e badge on the boot doesn’t really say a lot, to be frank, especially if you’re used to the ‘old way’ of naming various Audi models. The ’60’ tells you that this car has copious amounts of power and, in all fairness, it does. The powertrain is made up of a 3-liter V6 petrol engine along with an electric motor housed in the gearbox assembly. The oil-burning side of things is good for 340 PS and 500 Nm of torque (369 lb-ft), the same as you would find in a base A8 55 TFSI.

However, the electric motor steps in to provide an additional 136 PS and 350 Nm of torque (258 lb-ft). Don’t go rushing to your calculator to find out how much power this setup can deliver though because the total output isn’t the mathematical sum of the two. As it is the case in most PHEV models, the two motors can’t deliver all of their might at the same time so the most you can get out of the A8 60 TFSI e is 449 PS and 700 Nm of torque (516 lb-ft).

Those are some impressive figures and, despite having to carry around a decently sized battery in the back, the 2.3-ton A8 can accelerate to 100 km/h (62 mph) from standstill in 4.9 seconds! That is not bad at all for a limousine of this size. Consider the fact that you can rely on 350 Nm (258 lb-ft) of torque instantly, at any speed, courtesy of the electric motor, and you get a more than decent experience behind the wheel.

The A8 60 TFSI e is a fast car that makes reaching triple digit speeds seem so effortless, you’ll be checking the speedometer all the time, to make sure you’re not going to jail in a hurry as well. It’s in the corners where the A8 falls a bit short but then again, considering its weight and all, you couldn’t really expect it to be as agile as an RS5 after all. That’s not the point of the A8 though.

This is a limousine and it’s meant to be comfortable, quiet and relaxing most of all, and the A8 60 TFSI e delivers on all fronts. It’s especially impressive when first setting off, as the electric motor will power you along without hearing as much as a whisper from the powertrain. It’s eerily quiet inside the A8 during those first miles, so quiet it may cause some discomfort, as peculiar as that may sound. Thankfully, I had the Bang & Olufsen sound system at the ready to make things better.

22 Miles of Electric Drive

Just like it’s the case with virtually any other PHEV out there, the A8 too was set up to drive on electricity alone as much as possible. Therefore, the car will default to Auto Hybrid mode when setting off, which means you’ll only be using electrons to get by for as long as possible. That can also be done at speeds up to 84 mph which should make highway driving possible too. Don’t think that at those speeds you can cover too much ground though. This is a heavy car and the battery only has a capacity of 14.1 kWh. Nevertheless, around town, I managed to squeeze about 22 miles out of a full charge, which should be enough for most daily commutes.

The internal combustion engine will remain silent for most of your trip then but it’s important to note that even when it does kick in, no shudders or funny noises make it into the cabin. The switch between the different power sources is made seamlessly and you can only hear the internal combustion engine when you really mash the gas pedal.

The car also comes with a couple of driving modes for the hybrid powertrain, one of them allowing you to recharge the battery using the petrol engine. That’s definitely not how you’re supposed to use this car, but on the off chance that you’re going on a longer trip and want to use the A8 60 TFSI e in EV mode alone once you reach a city center, you can do that without having to stop to recharge the batteries.

The Best A8 In The Audi Range?

All things considered, the Audi A8 60 TFSIe could very well be considered the best pick of the range. It has more than enough power for any sort of situation, it’s fast, comfortable and the quietest choice in the range overall. Sure, there is a more powerful version out there, namely the S8, but that’s reserved for a special kind of customer.

Overall, the A8 falls right within the margins set by playing in the same league as the S-Class and 7 Series. It’s a middle-ground choice too, fitting between its two main rivals from Germany when it comes to luxury/features on one hand and sportiness/handling on the other.

The A8, just like its main rivals, the other two flagships mentioned in this here review, made a name for itself by innovating, more than anything else. That’s the main purpose of a flagship, to show you what a car maker can actually put together and showcase its expertise in various ways.

To that end, the new A8 is true to its name. It comes with incredible amounts of technology, from the trick air suspension and well implemented PHEV setup, to the Level 3 autonomous driving functions and many many others. Chip in the incredibly well built interior and whisper quiet drive and you have a proper limousine on your hands.

The post 2021 Audi A8 60 TFSI e Review – 450 HP of hybrid pleasure appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

The standard BMW 745Le comes with a total of 394 horsepower and 600 Nm (443 lb-ft) of torque, figures good enough for basically any sort of need. The torque delivery is instant, the straight-six engine is smooth and the whole car feels like a refined product, with a great balance between speed, luxury and efficiency. With this newfound level of power Dahler infused in it, the 745Le is even better. But what kind of numbers are we talking about here?

Well, according to the Swiss company, they managed to squeeze 408 horsepower out of the internal combustion engine under the hood, basically increasing the output by 122 horsepower. The torque also went up from 450 Nm (332 lb-ft) to 600 Nm (443 lb-ft). The electric motor couldn’t be upgraded for obvious reasons and therefore remains the same, with its 113 horsepower and 265 Nm (195 lb-ft) of torque. Overall, the car can now deliver up to 521 horsepower and 865 Nm (637 lb-ft) of torque.

With these figures, the closes model in terms of performance to it would be the BMW 750i with its massive 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 and 530 horsepower/750 Nm (553 lb-ft) of torque. But even that car would fall short in the torque department. There’s no mention of the 0-100 km/h (62 mph) acceleration time with these upgraded specs but we’re expecting to see numbers close to the 4.1 seconds of the 750i if not even better, considering this too is an xDrive model.

The post Dahler BMW 745Le plug-in hybrid has 521 HP appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

The $150,000 BMW i8 has a fairly small trunk – it can hold just 154 liters of luggage. But big enough to fit quite a few NVIDIA cards, along with a motherboard, CPU, some cooling and a massive power supply. According to HardwareTimes, this mining system is powered by an ASUS B250 Mining Expert board and an EVGA SuperNOVA 1600 T2 power supply.

Bryne told the publication that the idea behind this mining setup is to be able to travel while earning money. The battery of the i8 is said to be enough to power the six-GPU rig. The battery capacity of both, BMW i8 Roadster and the i8 Coupe, was increased to 11.6 kWh in 2018. The battery can also be charged while driving in the i8’s Sport Mode.

Clearly, the six graphic cards generate quite a lot of heat, so apparently the trunk’s hatch has to remain open to avoid overheating. So it’s unclear how that works while driving.

The recently NVIDIA 3000 Series cards are in high demand with all online and brick and mortar stores being sold out. They also command quite a high premium on third-party marketplaces, so if you’re planning to build your own BMW i8 or i3 rigs, account for that extra dollar.

The post BMW i8 and NVIDIA 3080 GPUs – The Perfect Crypto Mining Rig? appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

That’s definitely an ambitious goal but one that is very doable. Up until late December, 2020, BMW only had one purely electric car on sale worldwide and that was the BMW i3. In December, the first deliveries of the BMW iX3, the company’s first fully electric SUV, kicked off, but since the timeframe was so short, no noticeable impact could be noticed. As we’re entering 2021, the iX3 will go on sale on more markets worldwide.

On top of that, BMW also announced that it’s aiming to increase the sale of electrified cars by 50 percent. That includes both pure EVs and plug-in hybrid models. “We want to increase sales of our electrified vehicles by more than half in 2021. This underlines the importance of electromobility as a major growth driver for our company,” said Pieter Nota, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Customer, Brands, Sales in a recent statement.

For now, BMW doesn’t offer exact sales figures for its pure EV models and ‘electrified’ versions separately but rather includes them all together. Last year they sold 193,000 electrified cars which includes plug-in hybrid models which represented an increase of 31.8 percent compared to 2019 and about 15 percent of all sales made in Europe. Things are definitely moving on this front and from now on it seems like car makers are going to be forced by the customers to change their production schedule.

The post BMW planning offensive on the electric vehicles market appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

Math starts at $47,995 for the Wrangler Sahara 4xe and then you add the mandatory destination charges of $1,495, so you end up with $49,490. The starting price is before any incentives applicable to PHEVs, which will make the Wrangler 4xe more attainable. Mind you, the price tag refers to the Launch Edition, with the regular 4xe to arrive later on.

Jeep is also announcing pricing for the off-road-oriented Wrangler Rubicon 4xe Launch Edition. It starts off at $53,190 after destination and before the $7,500 tax credits. It comes as standard with the 4:1 Rock-Trac Heavy-Duty Full-Time 4WD System, along with the nine-speaker Alpine sound system and LED lights offered for the Sahara as well. Both are also fitted with an 8.4-inch Uconnect infotainment system as standard.

The 4xe models share a turbocharged 2.0-liter gasoline engine, two electric motors, an eight-speed automatic transmission, and a 17-kWh lithium-ion battery pack. The electrified Wrangler produces a combined output of 375 horsepower (280 kilowatts) and 470 pound-feet (637 Newton-meters) of torque and offers 25 miles (40 kilometers) of pure electric range.

Performance is not too shabby either, with Jeep saying the Wrangler 4xe takes only six seconds to complete the 0 to 60 mph (96 km/h) sprint. Beyond the zero-emissions range, efficiency when running as a hybrid is quite impressive seeing as how Jeep estimates it will return 50 miles per gallon equivalent. It’s worth pointing out the PHEV model is the torquiest Wrangler of them all, eclipsing even the 442 lb-ft (600 Nm) of the EcoDiesel while matching the beefier V8-powered Rubicon 392.

Jeep will start customer deliveries of the Wrangler 4xe in the first quarter of next year.

The post 2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid costs $49,490 before incentives appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.

Under the hood of this new hybrid A3 is a 1.4 liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. On its own, the engine develops 148 horsepower (110 kW) and 184 lb-ft (250 Nm) of torque. However, an electric motor provides an additional 107 horsepower (80 kW) and 243 lb-ft (330 Nm) of torque.

So despite having a tiny, efficiency-minded engine, the Audi A3 Sportback 45 TFSI e has a combined system power output of 241 horsepower (180 kW) and 295 lb-ft (400 Nm) of torque. That gives it almost Audi S3 levels of power, despite being far more efficient, returning a US MPG of 156.8–168.0 (1.5 to 1.4 liters per 100 kilometers).

All of that power is sent through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox to only the front wheels. Though, the Audi A3 Sportback TFSI e isn’t as quick as the S3. According to Audi, 0-62 mph takes 6.8 seconds. That’s relatively slow, considering its power output, but you can blame its additional weight from the 13 kWh battery pack and electric motor.

The hybrid A3 has all of the same hybrid driving modes as every other hybrid Audi. So there’s a Battery Hold mode, which uses the engine and electric motor to hold the battery charge at a specific level, to save it for a specific time. There’s Battery Charge mode, which uses the engine to increase the amount of battery charge until it’s full. Auto Hybrid is pretty self-explanatory, using both the engine and electric motor as the car sees fit. Lastly, there’s an EV mode that prioritizes using electric power only, as long as possible.

In terms of visuals, the Audi A3 Sportback TFSI e is one of the sportier looking A3 models and is a handsome hatchback. It looks sharp, athletic and premium, without much hint to its hybrid nature. So owners will be able to reap the benefits of a hybrid powertrain without being shouty about it.

The post WORLD PREMIERE: Audi A3 Sportback 45 TFSI e Plug-in Hybrid appeared first on EVGLOBE - News on Electric Vehicles and Hybrids.