Kymco to Supply BMW with i3 Electric Car Range Extender and New 400cc Scooter Engine

The automotive world has been buzzing of late about BMW‘s upcoming i3 electric car having an optional range extending gas-powered motorcycle engine. As our sister site Autoguide.com reports, the i3 will be available with an optional two-cylinder BMW motorcycle engine to power a generator which can recharge the electric motor and extend the vehicle’s range to 250 miles compared to a range of 60-90 miles relying just on the battery.

It turns out that two-cylinder motorcycle engine will actually be provided to BMW by Taiwanese manufacturer Kymco. This should be no real surprise as Kymco supplies several engines for the smaller-displacement BMW motorcycles including the engine for the single-cylinder G450X and the parallel-Twin engine used in the BMW C650GT and C600 Sport maxi-scooters.

This isn’t to say the i3′s range extender isn’t actually a BMW engine. Kymco produces the engines but BMW provided the tooling, specifications, and engineering. The BMW-Kymco partnership may not stop there however. According to WantChinaTimes, Kymco will supply a 400cc engine for another BMW scooter to slot in under the two 647cc C models.

On the subject of BMW scooters, the BMW C-Evolution electric scooter prototype also shares some technology with the i3, running on the same lithium-ion batteries while its TFT display is based on the screen used in the i3.

[Source: WantChinaTimes, CENS]

By Dennis Chung