BMW i3

Nissan, General Motors and a handful of electric car start-ups spent the past few years setting inflated expectations for the electric car market. The bubbles popped a while ago—due to modest sales, slashed pricing and high-profile bankruptcies (although Tesla’s recent success continues to feed the blogosphere with frothy news). Now that BMW is entering the EV market—and probably wasn’t paying close attention to the U.S. electric car market—Ian Robertson, board member for sales and marketing, is whipping up a new set of overly optimistic expectations.

The use of lightweight carbon fiber car bodies in BMW’s upcoming electric cars is the focus of a new series of videos produced by the company. The set of 10 videos released on YouTube last week, promote the i3 all-electric compact car and i8 plug-in hybrid sports car.

After more than six years of testing electric car technology, BMW will soon be launching its first mass-produced electric car, the i3 city car. BMW North America C.E.O. Ludwig Willisch recently revealed that the i3 will cost about the same as a well-equipped BMW 3-series, or around $40,000. While $40,000 might sound a reasonable cost for a mid-range BMW, it’s not a competitive price for BMW’s first production electric car. Here’s why.