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Comment by freerobby | Hacker News Reader

"Car of Tomorrow." LOL.

It's less functional, spacious and performant than a much safer all-electric car you can buy today for less money. It has neither DC fast charging capability nor enough electric range to go anywhere reliably (22 EPA miles in ideal conditions). It has all the maintenance hassles and costs of a traditional ICE plus whatever they are for BMW's electric technology.

The i8 is an old-school gas guzzling supercar that happens to have a battery inside it.

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It has a very small and efficient gasoline engine, so it is definitely not gas guzzling. BMW i8 offers somewhat agile acceleration, but relatively low all electric top speed of 120km/h (75 mph), so I would shudder calling this a supercar in anything except fuel economy and price.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_i8#Production_version

Note also that the i8's performance in all-electric mode is very weak: the electric motor is only 131hp, which is smaller than the i3's 170hp electric motor.

It's hard to imagine a significant fraction of i8 buyers using it as an all-electric commuter, like the Chevy Volt or other plug-in hybrids are used.

(edit: added some numbers)

With these parameters? It's not a commuter. It's rather a killer for electric vehicles, with the capability to go over 100 mpg. Think how far it could go with 50 liter tank - you'd have to fully charge your Tesla 5-6 times to cover same distance and spend a week just staring at the battery level indicator slowly going up. And it doesn't have any of electric vehicle pains - idle battery drain, 'vampire load' problems, performance decrease in cold or hot weather, and completely running out of fuel doesn't cost you 40k battery replacement. Electric vehicles are good only for commute and they take your freedom instead of giving it.

"It has all the maintenance hassles and costs of a traditional ICE plus whatever they are for BMW's electric technology."

Exactly. I was so, so disappointed that the i8 was a hybrid, and not an electric car.

Both the exterior/interior are far better designed and interesting than anything I've seen outside of a concept car. They also use premium materials that definitely makes the Tesla look cheap and tacky.

And I would hardly call a 1.5L engine a gas guzzler.

well, at least it's a car, not an ipad with wheels ;)

and probably, with todays fuel prices and 80 mpg runs cheaper than all-electric

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