Never had an EV or hybrid. About 6 years ago I was doing man maths on a New Gen 2 Prius vs a Used BMW 330Ci. The 330Ci won. Should have bought the prius. As the fuel proices skyrocketed the BMW value plummeted. Boght it for £10,000 and sold for £4,000 2 years later, and endured £2,500 of repais bills in the middle. Still I was a lovely drive - I miss it a bit. But it taught me 1 thing - there's no point having lots of power. That "only" had 231 horses and I used to get frustrated only being able to use it about twice per day. You can't over take on dual carriageways or when there's a constant stream of cars coming the other way.
I have been waiting since the early 1990's for series hybrid to get off the drawing boards. As far as aI know the i3 is the first true series hybrid - as in it's totally EV drive with power from the REX never going mechanically to the wheels. All other current hybrids have belts pullies and gears in between the motor to deal with longer drives and peak power demands. I really tried to fight off the idea of buying one, but just couldn't help myself after a test drive. Now I see myself as an evalgenlist for EVs.
Ideally I'd have loved it to be shaped more like an RX-7 but I guess in a smaller form they'd have struggled to get the batteries under the floor. They are actually quite a decent size - was looking at one parked up next to a 5 series earlier. If you chop off the nose and boot - you end up with an i3 on jacked up chassis ;-? LOL
What finally convinced me to buy was realising that probably till 2017 three won't be another long range EV on the market that I can afford. Audi are talking about Q2 or something like that. Telsa are talking Model 3. So the i3 will last me well into the point where I'm ready to look at what else is out there.
What I really want though is a Jag XE with series twin AWD EV drive... a removeable lotus designed ominivore REX (eats unleaded, diesel or alcohol), and an easy swap standard sized battery from Telsa, so as the tech gets better batteries can be upgraded. Will have to wait and see
I'd happily pay a bit more than the i3 cost for all that. Doesn't need a huge battery - say 40kWh to cover all normal commuting, just not longer drives. They canned the x-75, but must be thinking of Tesla sales of the Model S compared to XJ when they go to sleep at night. Knowing the Model 3 will compete against XE!
