BMW Details i3 Production Process

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is just a few months away from going on sale, and BMW is going into more detail about how the car will actually be built. It also appears that the i3 Coupe will be the third model added to the i sub-brand lineup. 

The i3 will be the first vehicle in BMW's history where it planned the sustainability of the entire project beforehand, and sustainability was given a similar weight as cost, weight or quality. 

All of the i3's carbon fiber is made from 100% hydroelectric power at its supplier in Moses Lake, Washington, United States, where the carbon fiber for the Boeing 787 is also made. It is then shipped to Germany and formed into the body panels. The Leipzig factory where final manufacturing is done is made entirely from self-generated wind power. There are four wind power stations on the factory campus. The i3 also requires 70% less water to produce than other BMW models. 

Mass-producing the first CFRP car brings other challenges, namely repairs. The thousands of repair shops across the world are made to handle repairing cars with metal bodies, not carbon fiber. When developing the i3 BMW considered how to repair the i3 when they are inevitably damaged. It says that the costs of body repairs will be on par with a 1 Series

BMW is also touting the i3 as the first mass-produced car in the world that uses so much CFRP. BMW made technological leaps in terms of CFRP with a new, automated bonding process that cut curing times significantly.  It has also developed a new CFRP recycling technique, which means that production waste can be recycled to create new components.

There will be a desire to grow the i sub-brand after the i3 and i8 go on sale. Expect to see the third i model around 2015, and it will most likely be the i3 Coupe. It can share the platform with the i3 but have a unique body. 

The i3 and i8 will be the extremes for the i sub-brand for now in terms of size and performance, and BMW will fill in the range in between.

Source: Autocar