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Not only is BMW the segment leader when it comes to its sedans, it is also one of the few carmakers to have a pure-electric production-ready vehicle. And yes, it's the BMW i3 we're talking about. It was at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show when the BMW i3 concept was showcased under BMW's new sub-brand - the BMW i - which in BMW's language is a comprehensive and ground-breaking concept for sustainable mobility. The styling of the car is distinctive and avant garde, making it look like a concept car driven straight off the design headquarters. Still, it's instantly recognisable as a Bimmer, thanks to the twin-kidney grille on the snout that is more 'form' than 'function'. Despite its compact dimensions, the i3 has a rather spacious interior, credit going to the minimalist loft-inspired design. But things work slightly different for rear passengers, though. They'll have to wait until the front doors are opened before they can open up the rear-hinged 'coach' doors. Drivers can select their direction of travel via a column-mounted rotary gear shifter. But while it's column-mounted, it isn't pivoted like how other column-mounted shifters do - further enhancing the car's 'cool' effect. Like all electric cars, the i3 accelerates briskly and smoothly from the word go. With a peak torque of 250Nm sent straight to the rear wheels, the 0-100km/h sprint is dispatched in just 7.2 seconds - similar to the MINI Cooper S hot hatch. The distinctive feature has to be the dramatic regenerative braking that permits the BMW i3 to be driven largely by modulating the accelerator without having the need to touch the brake pedal much. Make no mistakes. The BMW i3 is a good car. It's not a car that strays far from the rest the lineup in BMW's stable just because it's electric. It simply carries the vital principles of the Bavarian carmaker into a new realm. The BMW i3 is expected to arrive here by the third quarter of 2014.

Clean air is important for the health of a city's inhabitants. Vehicle emissions can, for example, severely impact upon the quality of life of people with respiratory illnesses. And those emissions can shave off the life of a city resident. That is why Singapore, like the Netherlands, should focus on future urban planning, which is also linked to economical planning: growth depends on clean air. The objective of the plan is simple: To establish a way of quickly achieving cleaner air in our country. The plan includes measures designed to ensure that emissions of fine particles and NO2 continue to decrease. It includes a particular focus on measures affecting heavy vehicle use, especially around Tuas and Rochor areas, which are probably the greatest local contributions to air pollution. Freight transport should be regulated and planned more efficiently, and subsidies are being used to encourage entrepreneurs to invest in cleaner vehicles such as electric cars. Speaking of which, one part of the measures in the plan has to include electric transportation. Amsterdam is a trailblazer in introducing measures to encourage electric mobility, with a vast number of charging ports readily available in the city centre. So why shouldn't Singapore be the same? Electric cars are becoming widely available, as car manufacturers are increasingly introducing new models like the recently launched BMW i3 to the market. As such, great interest should spark Singapore and stimulate entrepreneurial activities based on electric transport. The question, of course, is - when? http://dai.ly/x16wems

http://dai.ly/x16y194 Unlike vehicles with integral body and frame construction, the BMW i3 has a horizontally split LifeDrive structure consisting of two separate, independent modules - one for the Life module and the other for the Drive module. The structure of the LifeDrive architecture represents the basic construction of the BMW i3. The central element of the Life module is the Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) passenger compartment. This element is fixed to the aluminium Drive module, which houses all the drive and chassis technology.