Red Leaf: It weighs 4,000 lbs! BMW needed to add over 600lbs of steel to reinforce the frame once the removed the ICE powertrain. You can feel the weight but it's really still agile and quick. I've said it feels like driving an electric tank.

This is why BMW won't sell a converted ICE platform in electric trim. The car is pushing around way too much weight to really be efficient. The i3 for example has the exact same powertrain, all of the components in the ActiveE were designed for the i3, and it weighs 1,300lbs less. Same HP, same torque and 1,300lbs less.

I know where you stand ex, no problem with it. They aren't in Nissan or Tesla's category for sure, but they are way beyond what Honda is giving us. Honda hasn't announced any concrete plans to sell an EV in any real numbers. BMW is in the second tier though, along with Ford in my opinion, but definitely way above Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, Audi, Volvo and VW.

" . . . they are way beyond what Honda is giving us."
Actually, I believe that, to date, Honda has crushed more EVs than BMW has made.
I put Ford way ahead of BMW. Ford at least makes a lot of very good hybrids that they sell, they didn't crush many cars in the '90's at all, and they've sold infinitely more EVs than BMW (Rangers, Transit Connect, Thinks).

Is there an option to buy? Granted, with only 700 cars that wouldn't mean much for air pollution, but I'm sure the person making the payments would appreciate not losing all their money. Even if I were a BMW fan, well, I am a Honda fan or was. Even being a Honda fan, tossing all those payments down the drain makes the can-buy cars like Leafs/Tesla's look pretty attractive. You don't have to be a huge Nissan fan to appreciate that $11k going towards a car purchase versus a car preview.

That said, it's a good thing BMW is working on EVs. There are lots of BMW drivers, and it'll probably meet other higher end drivers needs as well.

If you put $11k into a company to test their car for them, you're essentially placing a stake of your money in the company. Typically a person with a stake in a company is a 'share holder'. So why isn't BMW/Honda giving out these test cars to people who buy $11k shares? As it is now, the company gets all the return from the customer's investment while the customer takes all the risk of driving an experimental car for 2 years + a guaranteed $11k kick in the rear when it's over. What a deal right? :D

It is really difficult for the car companies to commit. The amount of investment to build a car from the ground up is huge. So it is easier to retro-fit manually something you already have to experiment. BMW is just waking up to the fact that EV is real and worried about being left on the side line.

Tesla keeps being mentioned along with Nissan/Leaf which bothers me. Where is the S model? Have they actually launched it? Can I really go buy one? Do they have a dealer network? How good are they at building an actual car? Do they have good quality? I could go on.

Tom: Yeah, that's a good point. Leaf's 220v charge time won't stack up to BMW or Fit EV until 2013. Plus the depreciation is about even with the lease loss. It's a bummer that you don't get to have your way with the test car after the test though. I remember when I beta tested Windows 98 SE for Microsoft, they gave me a free copy of the gold edition when it was out. Sure the CD was only 20 cents, but in BMW/Honda's case they're going to pay to shred the car anyway. Really it's doing them a favor. hehe :)

Red Leaf: Sorry, how quickly I forgot my family's yellow '85 Nissan regular cab pickup, that had 200k miles on it. Only when Tesla scores that many miles on a Roadstar/Model S shall I mention it in the same sentence as Nissan. :D

@Tom, "I'll hand it back with 60,000+ miles on it and with no regard for the condition it's in. I don't have to worry if the tires are bald or if the leather gets accidentally ripped or if there are dings or scratches."

This must be some lease! So there is no annual mileage limit, and no return conditions?

Michael: No, there is no mileage limit which is great for me because I drive 30k per year. There is an "excessive" wear and tear clause in the lease but that is really only for the people that purposefully abused the cars. The MINI-E lease didn't have that, and a few people really took advantage and basically destroyed the cars because they weren't liable. Their cars looked like they auto crossed them when they were returned so BMW put in an excessive wear clause, but as long as it doesn't appear to be deliberate misuse then there is no worry.

You're right on that ex, but the CARB credits they get for them are worth big $$$ so that has to be factored in. Still - you cant make 1,100 cars and make a profit unless you're charging $150,000 + for them.

OT: Talking about supercar money, when I went to get my ActiveE at BMW HQ, they took me inside to the technical area where they are building a whole wing to service their future electrics and had an ActiveE disassembled with all the parts spread out for me to look at. However before getting to this area, we passed a room that had a McLaren with the motor out and on a stand being service and I went in to check it out - really cool.