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BMW i3 owners in California get $1,000 to delay charging

It's fairly rare to get paid for doing absolutely nothing, but that's exactly the case for a select group of BMW i3 owners in California. A hundred people are part of the ChargeForward pilot program in coordination with BMW and Pacific Gas & Electric Company, and each participant gets a $1,000 gift card to not plug in their cars – at least not whenever they want to. It's all part of an attempt to develop strategies to reduce the strain on the grid during peak usage. The trial runs from July 2015 to December 2016 in California's Bay Area. According to the automaker's website, when plugged in, BMW has the ability to delay the charging of the i3s by up to an hour. There are no necessary mechanical or software modifications necessary, either. Although, if drivers desperately need the juice, they can also opt out of the program for a day. At the end of the experiment, the people are eligible for a second gift card for up to another $540, depending on their involvement. According to Bloomberg, with 65,000 electric vehicles in Northern California, the power company estimates the area has among the highest concentrations of EVs in the country. While all of those emissions-free miles are great for the environment, plugging them all in once just adds to the load on the system. As a second part of the program, used Mini E batteries are being repurposed to create a solar-powered, stationary storage system that Pacific Gas can also use to supplement the grid.

Florida bikers threatened at gunpoint for beating motorist

A road rage incident in Pinellas County, FL spiraled out of control when a motorist confronted a trio of aggressive bikers at a stop light. According to The Sun, YouTube user known only as DankWheelie posted video on April 8 of a fistfight between a driver and a pack of sportbike riders on a busy Florida highway which ended abruptly when one of the participants pulled a pistol. There is precious little context for the video, which became a near instant viral sensation this week. Little is known about either the motorist or the bikers. The video starts with the bikers riding along an oceanside highway, when a red, older model BMW 5 Series gets into some confused lane changing shenanigans with them on a bridge. At a stop light after the bridge, the bikers and the driver of the BMW get into a fist fight in traffic, which does none of them credit. The bikers knock the driver to the ground and surround him, when a woman passenger in the BMW pops out with a pistol drawn and brandishes the weapon at the bikers. At this point the bikers all attempt to flee and the video ends. While there seems to be no police report filed, a local police official familiar with the incident made a statement to The Sun. "After the first incident, that's when you get on the phone," said Sergeant Mike Lynch, suggesting that all parties involved could have made better decisions. "That's when you call 9-1-1." "We're looking at a woman who looks terrified for either a friend that was in the vehicle or a spouse of some sort maybe," Lynch continued. "We encourage the public to call about that type of reckless driving. It endangers all of us on the road, not just their own lives but everybody else that's out there." Related Video News Source: YouTube, The Sun Weird Car News BMW Driving Safety Motorcycle Videos Sedan road rage biker

2015 BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe might be a better 3 Series sedan

At BMW, there really is something for everyone these days. Just take a look at the massive 3 Series/4 Series range - you can have a sedan, coupe, convertible, wagon, or funky-backed Gran Turismo. And now, with the introduction of the 2015 4 Series Gran Coupe, you can have another seda... err, hatchback, actually. But perhaps, a better one.
Compared to the 3 Series sedan, the 4 Series Gran Coupe is both longer and wider by about half an inch, but is shorter in overall height by an inch and a half. Honestly, to our eyes, it looks a little better than the 3 Series, too, what with its longer roofline, more sculpted rear haunches and lower stance. Full interior volume specs for the 4GC aren't available as of this writing, but we expect them to be roughly the same as the 3 Series, perhaps with a small decrease in headroom and rear legroom. Trunk space, at 17 cubic feet, matches the 3 Series sedan, and because the 4GC actually uses a hatchback design, it should be easier to access.
Powertrains are completely carryover from the rest of the 3/4 Series range. The 428i uses BMW's well-liked 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four with 240 horsepower and 255 pound-feet of torque, and the 435i is fitted with the company's 3.0-liter turbo-six, good for 300 hp and 300 lb-ft. An eight-speed automatic is the only transmission available in the US with either model and rear-wheel drive is standard. Only the 428i can be had with BMW's xDrive all-wheel-drive system, and interestingly, the 428i Gran Coupe is actually expected to be more fuel-efficient than its 3 Series sedan counterpart. The GC is estimated to return 23/35 miles per gallon city/highway, compared to the 23/33 mpg in the 328i sedan. The 435i Gran Coupe should achieve the same 22/32 mpg ratings as the 335i sedan.