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Those familiar with the negotiations between the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and BMW that led to the creation of the new BEVx class of extended range battery electric vehicles have written that to qualify as a BEVx vehicle, the i3 REx had to have less gasoline range than electric-only range.  To meet this requirement, the amount of gasoline that could be used was restricted by software rather than gasoline tank size.  Only North American i3 REx's had this software limit that can be eliminated by changing the values of parameters that set this limit (a.k.a. coding).


Every BEVx class vehicle that BMW sold gave it credits that it could use to allow the sale in CARB states of more gas-guzzling ICE vehicles.  BEVx credits were more than credits given for the sale of plug-in hybrid vehicles like the Volt, so it was valuable to BMW to do what was necessary to get BEVx credits.


However, "crippling" the i3 REx did not make it more affordable for anyone and did not provide tax or utility incentives or other benefits for buyers or lessors.  It advantaged only BMW.


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