Published: Mar 21, 2012

BMW Looks Back on their First EVs

BMW has been working on EVs since the early 1970s.

Believe it or not, BMW has been experimenting with EVs for many years now. How long exactly? The German automaker actually built the 1602 EV prototype for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. It was required to go 26 miles during the game's ceremonies with its lead acid batteries and a 32-kW motor. At the time that was quite impressive, especially since BMW engineers weren't even sure they could pull it off. In this recently posted video by the automaker, we're treated to some more flashback images of their E1 concept from 1993.

It even had regenerative brakes, which are now being seen on many new production cars. Now that BMW's upcoming i8 and i3 will be hitting the market quite soon, it's pretty interesting to take a look back to see just how advanced those engineers were for the time.

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BMW Looks Back on their First EVs

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