Despite the inclusion of a larger battery, sources suggest the proposed i8 prototype will not weigh more than the production version of the current i8, which tips the scales at 1485kg and possess a range of more than 249 miles. Power for the new fourwheel-drive i8 prototype will come from three new brushless electric motors. One will be mounted up front and two at the rear in the space usually taken up by the existing i8’s turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine. Developed by BMW, the motors are claimed to operate at a much higher internal speed than the production units used by the production i8. “BMW has a great history of high-revving combustion engines,” said an insider source. “We’re looking to take this tradition into the electric car arena with electric motors that rev far higher than those seen in production today.” As well as providing greater power, the high-revving nature of the prototype electric motors allows them to be made in a more compact form than those in use today. “Revs are the route to making electric motors smaller,” said BMW. In standard guise, the i8 has an overall system output of 357bhp. BMW remains tightlipped on the proposed output of the all-electric prototype, but insiders say the new motors are capable of delivering up to 268bhp each. The hydrogen fuel cell prototype, upon which BMW proposes to base the allelectric i8, delivers 242bhp — 115bhp less than the petrol-electric hybrid system used by the production i8. BMW i8 revamp spotted testing Before the aforementioned all-electric model arrives, the current hybrid i8 is due a facelift. BMW has already begun testing a more powerful version of today's i8 ahead of this planned facelift's arrival next year. The heavily modified car, which can be seen in our pictures testing on the streets of Munich in Germany, incorporates many of the developments used by the company’s i8-based Formula E safety car. These include a modified air extractor unit with an additional Gurney flap along its leading edge for the front-mounted electric motor within the bonnet. The car’s rear has also been reworked, with a carbonfibre-reinforced plastic tailgate incorporating eight individual air vents that replace the glass window used by the standard i8. The revised tailgate hides two heat-extracting fans, which are fitted to the i8 Formula E safety car. These are intended to improve the cooling efficiency of the rearmounted turbocharged 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine, which is used in combination with two electric motors to provide drive to both axles.
BMW’s i8 hybrid supercar could soon go all electric as the company is developing a battery-electric i8 prototype based on its today hydrogen fuel cell concept, built around a modified version of the i8 hybrid’s carbon fibre platform, according to Autocar citing an unnamed source. With a wider centre tunnel for its cylindrical hydrogen storage tanks, the source says the hydrogen prototype provides more storage space for batteries than the production i8, which will allow enough power to be stored to make a combustion engine unnecessary.