http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense ... uv_on.htmlDet här är en rätt bra sammanfattning om I3:an jämfört med Model S:
Citat:
The major statement that Tesla made with the Model S was that an electric motor doesn’t have to mean compromise. With a range approaching 300 miles, knockout styling, seating for seven, and head-snapping acceleration, the Model S said to gas-guzzlers, “Anything you can do, I can do better.” BMW’s effort says just the opposite. Its range is 80 to 100 miles, commensurate with pre-Tesla efforts like the Volt and the Nissan Leaf. Its styling shouts “novelty vehicle.” It seats just four. And it goes zero to 60 in seven seconds—which, to be fair, is not bad for an electric car.
The problem is that “not bad for an electric car” is precisely the epithet that had always dogged electric cars prior to the Model S. What made the Tesla different was that it refused to apologize for being electric. It turned the tables and forced competitors, BMW included, to apologize for the relative shortcomings of their gas-powered offerings. Why don’t they accelerate as smoothly? Why are they so noisy? Why do they have such a high center of gravity? Why can’t you put anything in the frunk?
BMW, in contrast, is apologizing for the i3’s shortcomings in the most obsequious way possible: by offering buyers access to a gas-guzzling, full-size SUV as a backup. You know, for those times when you need a real vehicle, because your electric buggy just won’t cut it. Oh, and there’s also an optional 34-horsepower motorcycle engine that you can have installed alongside the electric motor, because clearly electric motors on their own are not to be trusted. The bike motor’s 2.4-gallon tank effectively doubles the car’s range, which sounds helpful if also a little sad.
Add that internal-combustion engine, though, and you’re subtracting from one of the car’s genuine virtues. Thanks to lightweight materials and thoughtful design, it weighs just 2,700 pounds without the optional engine. The Model S, in contrast, checks in at a hulking 4,650 pounds, which limits its agility.
Och det ska sägas att efter att ha läst på lite olika forum så är det inte många som gillar designen. Men Leaf säljer iofs bra just nu och Prius kan knappast sägas vara någon skönet så det kanske inte är helt avgörande trots allt.