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BMW reveals i8 Concours d'Elegance Edition ahead of Pebble Beach

If you want to be among the first owners in the United States of the new BMW i8, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance will be the place to be next Saturday. That's where Gooding & Company will auction off this one-of-a-kind hybrid supercar.
The BMW i8 Concours d'Elegance Edition was previously slated to be the very first i8 in North America, but has now apparently been downgraded to the guarantee of being among the firsts. In any event, it packs a series of special touches to make it unique. For starters, it's decked out in matte grey with unique brown leather upholstery, blue accents and Pure Impulse Tera World trim, with BMW i8 logos embossed into the headrests, special treat plates and the signatures of several key BMW personnel on the rear parcel shelf.
Pending government approval, it's set to be the first vehicle in the US fitted with laser headlights, and comes equipped with a special key, Louis Vuitton luggage and a "professional edition" BMW Charging Station. Scope out all the details in the press release below and take a closer look in the gallery above.

Daily Driver: 2016 BMW X1

Daily Driver videos are micro-reviews of vehicles in the Autoblog press fleet, reviewed by the staffers that drive them every day. Today's Daily Driver features the 2016 BMW X1, reviewed by Alex Kierstein. You can watch the video above or read a transcript below. And don't forget to watch more Autoblog videos at /videos. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00 ]Hey, everybody. I'm Senior Editor Alex Kierstein and today we're driving the 2016 BMW X1. It's replacing the old X1 and the old X1 was based on BMW's traditional rear-wheel drive platform. That meant the engine was positioned longitudinally, that's north/south in the engine bay. In this application, we've got a transversely mounted turbo charged inline four, making 228 horsepower. [00:00:30] It displaces 2.0 liters and it's part of BMW's new modular engine family. It's a nice engine. It's smooth. It sounds good and it's got a lot of power. This is a little lighter than the previous car. This one weighs 3,660 pounds versus the old X1's 3800 and some change. It's a little bit lighter. The dimensions aren't that much different. If you're wondering why it got smaller, that's because it's using a platform [00:01:00] shared with a lot of BMW's Mini products. This is really the fruition of BMW's investment in the Mini brand because now they're able to use those platforms in the engines they developed for those models in BMWs. This X1 has an 8-speed automatic transmission and it's really a pretty good trans. It kicks down quickly if you call for it to give you some power and for the most part it's smooth and kind of out of your way. [00:01:30] Where Minis are sort of raucous when you really whomp in it, this is a little more restrained. It still delivers power like many of the current turbocharged Minis out there, but there's more refinement here. I really like the external styling on this car. It's wearing this really lovely shade of dark blue and BMW's current styling language lends itself really well to this shape [00:02:00]. It looks really tidy and it's not really that complex or interesting of a shape. It's very much the traditional two-box CUV kind of exterior look and profile, but the detailing is nice. It looks sharp. It looks like a premium product and it looks like a more expensive product than a similar Mini would. BMW used to pride themselves on having simple uncluttered interfaces and even the sort of trimmed down iDrive that's in this unit [00:02:30]. Works pretty well.

Recharge Wrap-up: BYD e6 taxi in Canoas, BMW wins award for second life battery project

BMW has won a 2015 Energy Storage North America (ESNA) Innovation Award for its second life battery project. The BMW i ChargeForward project takes batteries that have been retired from automotive duty, and puts them to work as stationary energy storage for a solar energy system. It also integrates BMW EVs into the grid, and uses software to manage charging based on grid load. "The goal of the BMW i ChargeForward project is to show how electric vehicles with smart charging capability and stationary second life applications of EV batteries can provide valuable flexibility that would make it possible for utilities to maximize the effectiveness of the existing electricity grid, which we expect to ultimately lower total cost of EV ownership for consumers," says BMW Advanced Technology Engineer of Sustainable Mobility, Dr. Simon Ellgas. Read more from BMW. Honda will add 120 EV chargers at the campus of its Torrance, California headquarters. Honda is also adding a DC fast charger adjacent to the campus that is accessible to the public. "Making workplace charging ubiquitous and accessible is the cornerstone of an effective public charging strategy that supports the maximum number of vehicles," says Honda's Environmental Business Development Office VP, Steven Center. "This expansion will make commuting in an EV a convenient option for the vast majority of Honda associates in Torrance, including those without access to charging at their homes or apartment buildings." Read more from Honda. The city of Canoas, Brazil has begun testing the BYD e6 electric taxi. The city will evaluate the EV taxi over a period of 60 days. "This may translate into vital savings for our survival," says Sergio Oliveira, President of the Taxi Driver Union in Canoas. "With today's high fuel prices, our operation is becoming unfeasible. This car's cost-benefit seems to be worth it. Now we need to get to know the car better by trying it out in the street, but so far we're quite pleased with what we've seen." The test of the electric taxi is part of a larger effort to electrify transport in Canoas. Read more in the press release below. Another Brazilian City Embraces a BYD Electrified Public Transportation Solution In a bid to offer its citizens a more economical and sustainable alternative in public transportation, the Brazilian city of Canoas has recently started testing the BYD e6 BEV as taxi.