Wednesday, April 7, 2010

BMW C1-E - electrical bike that actually could make sense

It hasn't generated that much noise in the press landscape, but what BMW presented last November (2009) was actually quite convincing! They took their BMW C1 bike with roof and seat belts and replaced the dull gasoline engine with an electric motor and batteries. The result has a number of convincing attributes:
It's zero emission (if you don't include the production of the energy).
It can be parked like a motocycle - so you don't need to look for a parking space!
It can be driven without a helmet, if you want (in most countries), so less of a hardcore vehicle compared to real motocycles.
I know a number of people who loved the C1. Obviously though it didn't bring the sales figures expected and BMW stopped production after only 3 years. With the BMW C1-E we could have seen a resurrection, but obviously BMW decided to not produce this one. Big mistake in my eyes, as for marketing purposes this would be at least as convincing as the Mini-E.

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