COMPETITION: Battery Centre: Future of motoring

The future of motoring is silent and less harmful on the planet with the introduction of fully-electric cars. The transition happened as vehicle manufacturers were required to cut down emissions and reduce their carbon footprint. It started with the introduction of Hybrid cars, which made use of the traditional fuel powered engine along with a battery-powered motor for shorter distances. The Hybrid car served as a springboard for manufacturers to explore the idea of a fully electric cars that no longer rely on fuel, and through technology they have achieved zero-emission status. 

Solutions by Tesla, BMW and Nissan have welcomed fully electric vehicles by adopting pouch lithium-ion batteries - a single car containing multiple battery packs that power the car for a particular range. However, charging these cars relies on grid power, which would come from a standard wall socket. We see you Eskom. Cars such as the Nissan Leaf are equipped with a battery pack that allows the driver to travel up to 363km in a full charge. While the range is substantially less than a car that uses fuel, it is primarily a city car and should be used as such. Cars such as the BMW i8 or the Tesla Model S can travel up to 1000km. Based on the range extension for larger electric vehicles, more and more drivers are making the conscious decision to switch to electric vehicles. 

The result is a need for the infrastructure that accommodate electric cars. As the technology progresses and becomes more and more popular, we see more filling stations and shopping centres placing charging stations on their property. This is only on part of the infrastructure required. The larger picture requires battery specialists that are able to assess, repair and service these batteries going forward. Ryan Annandale of Battery Centre says the largest battery specialist network in South Africa is geared and ready for the future of motoring. This upward shift is what positions Battery Centre as leaders in electric vehicle battery servicing in South Africa. 

Give Away time! We're giving away two vouchers valued up to R2500 each to two lucky readers! All you have to do is answer in the comments section, who are South Africa's largest Battery fitment centre?

Winners will be announced next Friday, 11th October on our Facebook page. 

Bucket Seat: BMW Concept iX3

This past week saw BMW showcase the next step in their electric future, with the BMW iX3 featuring at Auto China 2018 in Beijing. The iX3 is an important model for the company where it see's BMW implement it's emission free technology into it's core line up as supposed to unique models that we saw in the like of the i3 and i8. The model is based a lot on the X3 with majority of the shape being the same and just minor design changes and accents, making it differ to the combustion models. The expansion of the company's range of vehicles offering locally emission-free mobility is one of the central spheres of activity defined by the Automated, Connected, Electrified and Services (ACES) technological fields, on which the company is driving forward the transformation of the mobility sector as part of its Number One > Next strategy. 

The Concept iX3 showcases the fifth generation of BMW eDrive technology. The main benefit of this electric drive technology of the is the grouping together of the electric motor, transmission and power electronics within a new, separate electric drive component. While it may be a concept, this is a giant leap for the company when it goes into production, with their carbon core design, making their standard cars more light weight, not much would have to be done to the fully electric line up lose weight to enable better range and power output. Still no word on possible battery power, range and so on but one would expect it to be much greater than the i3 which is the only sole fully electric powered vehicle from the company. BMW will also see this technology being used into other developing electric models like the MINI S E Countryman ALL4 which like the Concept iX3 is also a fully electric SAV.