[tiburonh]

Bummer!

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12221...-in-california

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- BMW's (Xetra:BMW) Tesla-challenger, the i3, was engineered to get special regulatory status in California to enable it to compete effectively against the Tesla Model S. Just in time for BMW's customers to start placing their orders, this critical BMW selling point has been removed, resulting in a huge victory for Tesla as well as BMW's other competitors.

So what does this mean for investors and consumers?

Let's start with California's incentives for buying a plug-in electric car, and why it's so important for sales.

California is by far the largest market for plug-in electric cars in the world. It is estimated that some 40% of GM's (GM_) electric car sales are to California, and 50% of Tesla's. The numbers are probably almost as high for GM's and Tesla's main electric car competitors -- Ford, Nissan NSANY and Toyota.

While there are many reasons for this, including technology and culture, a major incentive for buying a plug-in car in California is the right to drive in the carpool lane solo during rush hour. Anecdotally, Chevrolet car dealers have told me that approximately half of Volt buyers come into the store asking for "the carpool lane car."

However, there are two kinds of carpool lane stickers in California. The first one is the "white sticker" for pure electric cars and natural gas cars. The second one is the "green sticker" for plug-in hybrid cars.

The crux of the matter is that the green-sticker category is limited to the first 40,000 cars that apply. The white-sticker category is unlimited in quantity. As of November 8, 2013, 24,452 green stickers had been issued. One can reasonably assume that the 40,000 limit may be reached by the middle of 2014. Here are the current numbers, directly from California government.

As I was the first to report in November 2012, BMW found a way to work with California's regulatory bureaucrats to create a new class of car that would be eligible for the coveted white sticker. This new class would have a gasoline engine, but a very limited one.

Unlike a Chevrolet Volt or equivalent, this new class would have a tiny engine (650cc, 35 HP two-cylinder in BMW's case) with a tiny gasoline tank (2.4 gallon) and the gasoline engine could only be used to keep the battery from going below the 5% level, not to charge it any higher than that. Furthermore, it could not have a range longer than the battery-powered range, and under no circumstances longer than 100 miles.

In BMW's case, it would work like this: You would drive the BMW i3 for the first 90 miles on electric power. Then the tiny motorcycle-style engine would kick in and propel the car for another 90 miles or less. You could of course refuel the gasoline at any time.

[808AWD325xi]

No white sticker, no interest. They should have productized the ActiveE.

[BMWMico]

Originally Posted by tiburonh

Bummer!

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12221...-in-california

sorry that you couldn't find the page you wanted.
Here are a couple of ways that can help you find that information successfully.

[808AWD325xi]

Originally Posted by BMWSFMico

sorry that you couldn't find the page you wanted.
Here are a couple of ways that can help you find that information successfully.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12221...alifornia.html

[squeaky]

Originally Posted by 808AWD325xi

No white sticker, no interest. They should have productized the ActiveE.

How is the i3 without range extender any different than the ActiveE? Isn't it still eligible for the white sticker?

[SCOTT26]

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- BMW's (Xetra:BMW) Tesla-challenger, the i3,

This sentence proves they don't even have a clue.

[tommolog]

Originally Posted by squeaky

How is the i3 without range extender any different than the ActiveE? Isn't it still eligible for the white sticker?

It's not different, The BEV i3 still gets the maximum CA rebate ($2,500) and the white carpool sticker.

The i3 REx will may still get the full $2,500 rebate (discussions are still ongoing and BMW has insisted they will) or at the very least they will get $1,500 rebate. It will likely get the green carpool sticker which is valid for just as long as the white one (till January 2019). The only issue is they decided to only issue 40,000 of the green stickers beginning in 2012 and have already handed out about 26,000 of them. They are issuing about 1,000 per month so they will be all gone within a year. So if you want an ie REx and live in CA you better order one early because in 9 months to a year, the green stickers will be gone and unless CA extends the program the i3 REx will not get carpool access which is a crushing blow for the California market.

The rest of the country could basically care less though