In a ‘flap’ over the electric BMW i3

competitor the Renault Zoe which is also entering the Kiwi market about now.

But there’s also plenty to like about the range-extender variant, particularly now that its range on a full charge/fuel tank of fuel will be increased to the 340km once the updated models with the bigger battery arrive.

That will give its owners the necessary confidence to head out on longer trips, all or most of the time purely on electricity. We were recently reminded just how good the BMW i3 is, when we spent a week behind its wheel in a sort of refresher course on the vehicle, which is the current New Zealand Car of the Year.

What you do is charge-up the car overnight via your standard household power supply, and when you next head out for a drive you are presented with a readout on an LCD screen that tells you how much range you have remaining as a purely electric vehicle and what your range is via the 650cc two-cylinder petrol engine which replenishes the battery charge while on the move.

And away you go. We found that the battery charge to be easily enough for the ordinary everyday commute, which means you can silently zip here and there in your distinctive five-door hatch with its excellent off-the-mark performance.

When the battery charge reaches a stage where it is close to full depletion, the petrol engine automatically kicks into action and happily runs somewhere behind you, operating as a little power station on wheels.

The noise of the engine is actually quite rowdy, and when it happened to us it left me wondering what the noise sounded like – it seemed quite familiar.

Then it struck me: the noise was just like a household washing machine in the spin cycle. And if that wouldn’t convince an i3 owner to go home and charge the car up again, then nothing would!