2017 World Urban Car = BMW i3 (94 Ah)

As the inaugural winner of the 2017 World Urban Car award at the New York International Auto Show, the new BMW i3 (94 Ah) is getting a well deserved nod of attention. The i3 is a blast to drive, subcompact (allowing for much easier urban parking and maneuvering), elegant, clean, and widely available. In a world of growing city fees or bans for dirty vehicles, it’s apropos that an electric vehicle win the inaugural World Urban Car award.

“This award highlights BMW Group’s commitment to sustainable mobility through BMW’s first all-electric vehicle made primarily of carbon fiber,” Ludwig Willisch, Head of BMW Group Region Americas, said. “The design brief for the BMW i3 was to create a Mega City Vehicle for the cities of the future. Today, the new 2017 BMW i3 (94 Ah) provides more range paired with a high level of dynamic performance, making it the perfect urban vehicle for people around the world.”

I tell everyone I know who shares a shred of interest in electric cars to test drive a BMW i3. There is no experience that compares. The car is cool and inspiringly unique. A press release from the BMW Group about the win and the winning car notes: “Launched in 2014, the born electric BMW i3 represents a new era of electro mobility offering a visionary design, a ground-breaking vehicle architecture, dynamic performance and innovative connectivity. No other car represents such a holistic approach to sustainability throughout the value chain.”

“It’s an award whose time has come. Everyday cars in many — perhaps most — parts of the world will have to become smaller if road and parking space is to be found for them in increasingly packed towns and cities whose populations are swelling annually,” World Car vice-chairman, Mike Rutherford, commented. “This year’s winner in our inaugural World Urban Car category proves that these small vehicles don’t have to be cheap, undesirable and unpleasant to drive. Quite the opposite. It is among the best value-for-money products on the market.”

In case you don’t follow the electric car market obsessively, note that the 2017 BMW i3 offers a much larger battery than the original i3 (larger in terms of capacity, not physical size, which is actually the same as in the original i3). “The new 2017 BMW i3 (94 Ah) offers 50% increased battery capacity (33 kWh) thanks to the higher energy density of the lithium ion cells,” BMW writes. “The BMW i team worked to ensure that the battery dimensions remain unchanged while still offering a significant range increase. The driving performance figures of the 170 hp AC synchronous electric motor remain virtually unchanged. The motor propels the BMW i3 from 0 to 60 mph in just over 7 seconds, making the BMW i3 the sportiest and most efficient electric vehicle in the premium segment. With the introduction of the BMW i3 (94 Ah), BMW i now also offers a new BMW Home Charger Connect, a residential charging station designed for comfortable and fast home charging featuring additional connected functions.”

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Top picture by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica, others via BMW