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Recharge Wrap-up: BMW's electric truck, London's electric double-decker bus

BMW and transport and logistics company Scherm Group have put an electric transport truck into service in Munich, Germany. The 40-ton truck, made by Dutch manufacturer Terberg, will be used to move vehicle components between BMW's Munich plant and Scherm's logistics center cleanly and quietly on public roads. Using the electric vehicle saves 11.8 tons of CO2 per year. It charges in about four hours, and has a range of about 62 miles — enough to make the trip between the two facilities eight times a day. The truck will be powered completely by electricity from renewable sources. With this project, BMW "is showing that you can succeed on the global market with sustainable products made by innovative companies," says Bavaria's Minister for Economic Affairs, Ilse Aigner. Read more in the press release below. Discount supermarket chain Aldi is offering free charging in Germany. The company has installed fast-charging stations at 50 locations for customers to use while they shop. IKEA also has plans to install free charging at its stores in Germany, and other retailers will likely do the same. While offering free e-juice helps businesses garner the attention of its EV-driving customers, it could also help encourage people to buy electric vehicles. Many are disappointed by Germany's lack of EV incentives, despite the country's goal of having 1 million EVs in operation by 2020. Read more at Automotive News Europe. London will put an all-electric double-decker bus into service this year. London Mayor Boris Johnson announced the electric bus trial at the first ever Clean Bus Summit. The bus, made by BYD, will begin service in October. London has already deployed over 1,300 hybrid buses and retrofitted over 1,400 buses to reduce emissions since 2008. Mayor Johnson's goal is to cut buses' NOx emissions in half by the end of his term in 2016 compared to 2008 levels. Also at the Clean Bus Summit, a number of bus makers and banks committed to helping cities roll out fleets of ultra-low emission buses. Read more in the press release from London, and from BYD. The US Department of Energy (DOE) is funding biofuel projects to the tune of $18 million. The DOE will award the funds to six projects in an effort to reduce the price of algae-based biofuels to less than $5 per gasoline gallon equivalent (gge). The DOE has a goal to get the price of algal biofuels to less than $3 per gge by 2030.

2015 BMW 740Ld xDrive

When it first came stateside in 1978, choosing a BMW 7 Series was a simple process. With one engine and one wheelbase, you could just pick what color you want and be on your merry way. Today there are ten different models, forcing drivers to choose among four engines (plus a hybrid), rear- or all-wheel-drive, and two different wheelbase lengths. As if this isn't tricky enough, the options list has more custom choices than the Taco Bell app. Do you want standard paint and upholstery, or something from the pricey BMW Individual collection? What about the headlights: Do you want LEDs, or are the standard xenons just fine? Need a head-up display? Night vision? Adaptive dampers? The list goes on and on. After a week with a new version of BMW's flagship sedan, we've sorted out which model you actually want, although it's still up to you whether or not to order a ceramic-glazed iDrive knob. Our favorite 7 Series is now the 740Ld Xdrive, a conclusion we came to after a week at the helm of the smooth, torquey land yacht. Driving Notes When the diesel 7 first arrived at the 2014 Chicago Auto Show, its engine was already familiar to American consumers. It's the same 3.0-liter, turbodiesel inline-six found in everything from the E90 3 Series to the past two generations of X5, as well as the current 5 Series. A robust 413 pound-feet of torque lathered across the rev range, with peak twist available between 1,500 and 3,000 rpm, and the corresponding horsepower tops out at 255. 0Í–60 happens in a sedate 6.1 seconds, and for those with autobahn dreams the top speed is a modest 130 mph. While those figures aren't terribly impressive, as is often the case with diesels, the real-world application of the engine's power is far more dramatic. Even small throttle inputs produce a smooth surge of acceleration, making the 740Ld feel a lot quicker than the performance metrics might indicate. Even with the current cheap price of gas, the superior fuel efficiency of a diesel engine is worth noting, especially as this model only costs $1500 more than a 740Li xDrive. The diesel tips the scales at nearly 4,700 pounds, yet it boasts a 31-mile-per-gallon highway rating. It's rated at 23 mpg in the city, while our real-world testing saw returns in the mid-to-high 20s. Simple anecdotes about acceleration and fuel economy figures only convey a small part of the 740Ld's goodness.

BMW 328d confirmed for New York debut

Late last year, some of BMW's future diesel plans for the US market were leaked, and we learned that a diesel-powered version of the 3 Series sedan (pictured above in 335i guise) would be coming in the first quarter of 2013. That report appears to be holding true, as BMW has just confirmed the debut of the oil-burning 328d sedan as part of the company's New York Auto Show plans.
The 328d will be powered by a turbocharged four-cylinder diesel engine good for 180 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque. The rear-wheel-drive sedan will hit 60 miles per hour in 7.2 seconds and fuel economy numbers could "well exceed" 40 miles per gallon. (Official EPA numbers will be released closer to the car's launch.)
Elsewhere on BMW's New York stand, the company will show off the 3 Series Gran Turismo that debuted at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month, as well as the Concept Active Tourer that we first saw in Paris last fall. Scroll down for the official press blast.