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BMW executives reject the idea that the i3 was a mistake, saying they learned valuable lessons about electric vehicle technology, such as how to make more efficient motors.

Later models have improved batteries and can go more than 150 miles between charges.Д«MW continues to produce the i3 and has sold about 210,000 since 2013, but ended sales in the United States in July. Not many people were willing to pay more than $40,000 for what was essentially a hatchback that could travel only about 80 miles on a charge. The carbon-fiber body mounted atop an aluminum chassis won design awards and was an engineering feat, but it was expensive to produce. The i3, which BMW began producing in 2013, was a lesson in the perils of coming to market too early.

TeslaвЂ™s Model 3 is the best-selling electric car in western Europe, where plug-in vehicles accounted for 17% of new car sales in the first half of the year, or one million vehicles, according to Schmidt Automotive Research in Berlin. The market is dominated by Tesla, which is building a factory in Berlin. Sales of electrified vehicles are growing fast, but remain less than 4% of the total market in the United States. Will they want car designs that signal a break with the past? Or will they want electric cars that look and perform like the gasoline models theyвЂ™re used to? No one really knows what sort of electric vehicles will prove popular as the market expands beyond early adopters, who tend to be affluent and environmentally conscious. Auto company executives have to make billion-dollar bets based on their best estimates of what car buyers will want half a decade from now, and of what kind of technology will be available. It takes four or five years to design a new car, to equip a factory to build it and to organize a network of suppliers. They point out that BMW is engineering a collection of specialized components that will underpin a family of electric vehicles beginning in 2025, which in their view is when the market will take off.Д«MW exemplifies the difficult calculations that established carmakers must make as the industry shifts to electric power.

They cite the dedicated research center in Munich where BMW is developing its own battery technology. вЂњMaybe you didnвЂ™t see that much, but weвЂ™ve been working hard,вЂќ Adrian van Hooydonk, design director at BMW, said during an interview at BMW World, the companyвЂ™s showcase in Munich.Д«MW executives say the iX manifests a commitment to electric propulsion that falls short of rivals only on the level of braggadocio. The iX will be the first BMW since the i3 designed around battery power, rather than being a conversion of a gasoline or diesel car. In the fall, BMW will begin selling a battery-powered sport utility vehicle, the iX, in Europe it will arrive in the United States early next year. BMW shares have tumbled 18% since early June.ДЄt BMW headquarters in Munich, company executives say they will prove the critics wrong in coming months. The perception that BMW is an electric vehicle laggard helps explain why investors have begun to sour on the companyвЂ™s shares, which fell even after the company reported a healthy quarterly net profit this month of 4.8 billion euros, or $5.7 billion.

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When it comes to committing to a full lineup of electric vehicles, he said, вЂњthey have been quite ambivalent.вЂќ вЂњIвЂ™m a little concerned about BMW,вЂќ said Peter Wells, director of the Center for Automotive Industry Research at Cardiff Business School in Wales.

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