2023 Bmw M4 on 2040-cars

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Recharge Wrap-up: New Mitsubishi Evo PHEV, Amsterdam buses go all electric by 2025

Mitsubishi hopes to launch a new vehicle badged as the Evo based on the Concept XR-PHEV II. Mitsubishi President and COO Tetsuro Aikawa tells Autocar the new vehicle will share characteristics with the outgoing Lancer Evolution loved by enthusiasts, but will feature a plug-in hybrid powertrain in the body of a compact crossover. "In Japanese, when you pronounce 'Oh,' it means 'king,'" says Aikawa. "So we would like to launch this type of car, featuring EV and PHEV technology, which is the ultimate of its kind. 'EV' for electric vehicle, 'O' for king - Evo." The Mitsu boss also envisions the four-wheel-drive Evo to be "light and fast - something performance-oriented." Read more at Autocar, or at Hybrid Cars. Amsterdam aims to have all its buses running on electric power by 2025. Within two years, the city will have 40 electric buses in operation, and will phase out the rest of the diesel fleet in the following years. "This project means we are saying goodbye to symbolic behavior and pilot projects," says transport alderman Abdeluheb Choho. "We have decided to just do it, not to experiment with five buses." Read more at Clean Technica. BMW and General Motors are both listed in the top five US organizations generating and using green energy onsite. In an EPA list, BMW's Spartanburg, South Carolina manufacturing facility is number four, with credit going to its use of landfill gas. In 2013, 69,383,477 kWh - or 37 percent of its total usage - came from green energy. GM's Fort Wayne Assembly was number five, with 43 percent of its power coming from methane from a nearby landfill. Volkwsagen also made the Top 30 list, at number 15, for its Chattanooga assembly plant's use of solar power. See the EPA's full list, and read more at Green Car Congress. Volkswagen will release its 2014 sustainability report on Twitter on Monday, May 4. It will be the first step in using the social medium to distribute information on economic, environmental and social sustainability to a larger audience. The report will include a section called "Electrifying China with a tailor-made efficiency strategy," which focuses on reducing CO2 emissions through the use of electric vehicles. Volkswagen has already begun releasing highlights from its report on its Twitter account with the hashtag #VWCSR. Read more in the press release below and, of course, on Twitter next week.

BMW will electrify all brands and model lines, including Mini

BMW has announced that it plans to produce a fully electric version of the three-door hatchback Mini. The car will go into production in 2019, and the battery electric drivetrain will be produced at BMW's Bavarian facilities, then transported to Plant Oxford where it will join the cars. BMW says there will remain a diesel variant in addition to the petrol, plug-in hybrid, and EV versions of the Mini. No prototype shots have been released of the upcoming cars; the current one was unveiled in late 2013. The UK production location isn't the only place where BMW builds Minis, as the former Volvo/Mitsubishi/Smart NedCar plant in the Netherlands has been tooled to build some of the 360,000 Minis built yearly. According to the BBC, UK Business Secretary Greg Clark considers the choice to build EV Minis in Britain a "vote of confidence" despite Brexit, and that it would see battery technology development boosted in the UK. By the time the EV version starts production, UK will likely have already left the European Union. The electrification of the Mini is part of BMW Group's continuing addition of full-electric or plug-in versions to all its brands and model series. Of all the vehicles it will sell in 2025, 15-25 percent will be electrified in one way or the other. Similarly to Volvo, BMW sees flexible production to be in a key position in the future: The facilities would have to be able to build all versions at the same time, as markets fluctuate depending on incentives and infrastructure. If EVs sell strongly, the production process can quickly respond to the demand. An electric Mini underwent trials back in 2008, so the full-scale production vehicle would have over a decade's worth of engineering behind it. Green BMW MINI mini ev bmw group

2014 BMW Z4 sDrive35is

The BMW Z3/Z4 roadster has never really had a widespread following because it has either been too humble and small a roadster (albeit with some fun and very low-volume M editions) or it has been - in this E89 generation - too casual an image leader with no racier aspirations. The current 480-hp Z4 GTEs don't count, since they are as stock a Z4 as today's Pamela Anderson is the same blonde actress we knew as Heidi on Home Improvement. You know, sort of like those ever-so-slightly modified Toyota Camry coupes competing in NASCAR.
The ultimate highpoint for the BMW Z roadster franchise was at the very start of its life in the mid-90s, in the James Bond film GoldenEye with Pierce Brosnan. The Stinger missiles that Q's team installed behind the Z3's headlights were never fired, and BMW never even offered this self-defense package as an option. Yet another case of the ol' bait and switch.
And in all these subsequent years of Z3s and Z4s strutting their long-hooded stuff, the little sporting Bimmer could really have used a live Stinger missile or two to spice things up. The current Z4 exists, it is pretty dang sexy, and BMW seems content to let it linger there. We just drove the new midlife version of the roadster near BMW headquarters in Munich, and it served to reinforce our feelings.