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Recharge Wrap-up: Tesla opens 50th European Supercharger, BMW smart charging in Singapore

Southeastern Illinois College wants to create a biofuel processing certification program. The school is waiting to hear about receiving $750,000 from a US Department of Labor grant that would allow it to expand its Biofuels Education curriculum to include certification for manufacturing biodiesel and ethanol. There are currently no such programs in existence, and its development would require Labor Department approval as well as input from biofuel companies. Southeastern Illinois College believes that biofuel processing certification would be a large draw for potential students. Read more at The Southern Illinoisan. Tesla has opened the 50th Supercharger in Europe. In the year since the first on was installed in Norway in August 2013, Tesla has been building the network that, like it does in the US, will allow Model S drivers to go long distances for free. There are now 168 Superchargers open throughout the world. Find more in the press release below. BMW is partnering with Greenlots to bring an open standards EV charging network to Singapore. As part of BMW's 360 Electric program, Greenlots will install public chargers and manage the network that allows BMW i owners to find and use the chargers with BMW's navigation system and ChargeNow card. The 30 possible public chargers Greenlots plans to install will use the company's SKY Smart Charging platform. Greenlots will also install the BMW i Wallbox Pure charger at customer's homes and offices. Read more in the press release below. Plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) sales are forecast to reach 1.8 million a year by 2023, according to a report by Navigant Research. Right now, North America is the biggest buyer of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, but that should change as the Asia Pacific market is expected to outgrow it; still, the US alone is expected to have more than 2.7 million PEVs on the road in 2023. Urban areas are where we'll see the largest concentration, naturally, with Tokyo, Los Angeles and Paris having the most sales in 2023, respectively. With the increase in PEVs comes an increase in residential load on the electric grid, which is expected to rise by 33 to 37 percent. Read more at Hybrid Cars, or head to the Navigant Research website. Chinese automaker Dongfeng is now manufacturing its first mass-produced electric vehicle, the Aeolus E30. The small, two-seat urban EV has a limited speed of 50 miles per hour, but has a range of up to 100 miles.

BMW 1 Series dead for 2014

BMW is temporarily abandoning the increasingly competitive and popular compact luxury segment, as it's announced that its 1 Series Coupe and Convertible will be discontinued for the 2014 model year, marking an ignominious end to a line that spawned a pair of excellent high-performance models during its life. Production on the Coupe officially ended in August, while convertible production was taken offline in June.
And while we're mourning the loss of the 1 Series, we're left wondering about the status of its replacement, the 2 Series. That car, which we've already seen inside and out and know the specs on, is expected to make its debut at the 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, although it's unclear just how quickly BMW will get it to showrooms. Assuming BMW doesn't have a bumper crop of already-built 2013 models to hold them over, that leaves Munich-based manufacturer somewhat vulnerable, particularly as Audi and Mercedes-Benz are both launching new models in the compact-premium space vacated by the 1 Series. Any delay in the arrival of the 2 Series could be bad news for BMW, especially if the public is receptive to the new Audi A3 and CLA-Class (early signs suggest that the baby Benz has traction).
In addition, BMW has made a number of changes across the rest of its lineup which are listed below in the official press release. Some of the notable changes, though, include a revised 445-horsepower twin-turbocharged V8 on the 5 Series, a limited-edition Frozen Brilliant White Edition for the 6 Series and the rollout of a new, touchpad-equipped version of iDrive on a number of BMW models. Scroll down for the full press release from BMW.

Someone's willing to pay $16,000 for a hollow, non-working BMW i8

There is an unusual BMW i8 for sale on eBay right now. Unlike your average – and by that we mean "working" – i8, this one pretty much just sits there, looking pretty. See, the i8 in question is just a promotional body shell. It's fullsize and being sold (we think) by a legit BMW dealer (Laurel BMW of Westmont), so it's got strong ties to the real thing, but there's nothing inside. In fact, you can't open the doors or windows and the wheels don't move, unless you count the tiny rolling castors that are a part of the prop. There is no fancy plug-in hybrid powertrain – no powertrain of any sort, in fact – and it was "professionally crafted just for BMW dealers." The headlights do turn on, though, so that's something. What's most impressive, though, is that there are 50 bids for this non-working BMW. In fact, the bidding has climbed up to $16,000. For a car that can't fulfill its mission as a car, that's pretty impressive. Oh, and those bids have not yet hit the reserve price, so the dealer is obviously hoping it can get more money for this hollow BMW. The official base MSRP for a working i8 is $135,700. The first i8 delivered in the US, a special edition for Pebble Beach, just sold for $825,000.