BMW, already invested in electric car deployment plans, has also been teasing electric scooter concepts.
These have remained mostly one off research and design vehicles, however, until now. The luxury German automaker looks as if it will be heading into production at some point in the near future with an actual road ready model.
As BMW continues its march down the electric scooter path, it recently unveiled the C evolution. It calls this two-wheeled ride its first near-production prototype, and already has five e-scooters being tested in London traffic during the ongoing Olympics. After this it will conduct trials in other European cities, using the data collected to prepare for “the market launch of the future serial production model.”
As for the BMW C evolution, it has pretty impressive specifications. These include a snappy electric drive via a drivetrain swing arm with liquid-cooled alternator, tooth belt and planetary gear that offers up 11 kW of continuous output and 35 kW of peak output. It also has a top speed of nearly 75 miles per hour, and an estimated range of 62 miles due to its 8 kWh battery.
Also of note on this electric scooter from BMW are short charging times via either a regular household socket or a charging station; automatic energy regeneration in coasting mode and when braking; lightweight tires; ABS braking; a multi-functional instrument cluster and LED daytime running light.
BMW, in its history of development of electric scooter prototypes to this point, showed off at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show its E-Scooter concept, which at the time had a range of 60 miles. Also on the development block in this type of urban electric personal transportation was the C1-E, which was brought to light back in late 2009.
As it stands right now, BMW has yet to release further details on an actual production date of a retail ready electric scooter.
