宝马i8爱上碳纤维

    接下来的几周中，售价13.5万美元的宝马全新i8运动型跑车将在比佛利山庄和格林威治的街道上亮相。很难将它具体归类为某种车。它速度很快，质量很轻，格外省油，还非常吸引眼球。

    大家可以把i8想象成有时表现得如同丰田普锐斯（Toyota Prius）或日产聆风（Nissan Leaf）的保时捷卡雷拉（Porsche Carrera）。

    从汽车工程学的角度来看，i8是一款极为优秀的原创车型，代表了德国汽车制造商重要的哲学立场。之前，人们认为德国车更像是强大动感的机器，而非环保的正义使者。然而，越来越严格的碳排放规定开始威胁到宝马和其他的高性能汽车制造商，除非他们能够发明、掌握先进的节能技术，比如在i8中体现的那些技术。

    这类突破性的技术在i8和宝马更小更便宜的都市车i3上都得到了体现。制造商大量使用碳纤维来代替钢材。两款车型的驾驶室都由碳纤维构成。而在之前，由于过高的价格和复杂的工序，这种材料从来没有大量用于制造大容量汽车。

    位于华盛顿州摩西湖的西格里汽车碳纤维有限责任公司（SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers LLC）总经理安德理亚斯•乌尔纳说：“碳纤维之所以能够应用于这些新车型，是因为我们掌握了制造这种物质的方法，从而让生产过程更加自动化、生产速度更快、浪费更少。”

    西格里是宝马参与创办的一家合资企业。上周五，他们宣布，准备新投入2亿美元，将摩西湖工厂的生产力扩至三倍，成为世界上最大的碳纤维生产基地。场址之所以选在这里，部分原因是这里可以采用水力发电机供电，比起使用火电厂，这样几乎不会产生二氧化碳。

    采用油电混合动力装置的i8重量仅有3,274磅（比起用铝作为车身的特斯拉Model S电力车轻了大约1,000磅），可以在4.4秒内从0加速到60英里/小时。尽管美国的燃油效率评级数据还没有发布，但宝马的工程师预测，它的油耗大约是90英里/加仑。

    i8能够以五种模式行驶，每种模式都会对行驶路程、功率、燃油效率和蓄电池充电中的几项指标进行优化。理想情况下，汽车可以驶出375英里而不需要加油或充电。只使用电池的情况下，它也可以驶出最多23英里。

    i8低矮的车身似乎不够性感，不过它的鸥翼式车门却让人怦然心动。（为了避免与主要竞争对手梅赛德斯-奔驰率先捧红的鸥翼门设计雷同，宝马把它们称作“剪刀”门。）

    4.14万美元的宝马i3似乎深受人们青睐。面对大量的初期需求，宝马在今年4月表示他们已经将汽车产量增至每天100辆。i3和i8都将在德国莱比锡的宝马工厂进行生产，这个工厂的部分能源来自风力发电。

    宝马已经开始率先涉足碳纤维：它在i3和i8上的广泛使用就像福特汽车公司（Ford Motor Company）决定使用铝来制造下一代F系列皮卡一样，这些迹象都昭示着环境问题开始成为车辆设计中日益重要的关键因素。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    BMW's new $135,000 i8 sports car, which will begin appearing on the streets of Beverly Hills and Greenwich in a few weeks, defies easy categorization. It is fast. It is light. It is exceptionally fuel efficient and eye-catching.

    Think of i8 as a Porsche Carrera behaving from time to time like a Toyota Prius (TM) or Nissan Leaf.

    As stunning and original as the i8 is from an automotive engineering standpoint, it represents an important philosophical statement for the German automaker, known until now for powerful, sporty machines more than environmental righteousness. Tougher regulations regarding carbon emissions threaten BMW and other makers of high-performing models unless they can develop and master advanced energy efficient technologies, such as those embodied in i8.

    One such breakthrough technology exemplified in the i8, as well as for BMW's smaller, less expensive i3 city car, is extensive use of carbon fiber instead of steel. The cockpits of both cars are fabricated from the material, which has never before been used for the mass manufacture of a high-volume vehicle due to prohibitive cost and complication.

    "What makes carbon fiber feasible for these new models is the way in which we have learned to manufacture the substance so that the process can be more highly automated, quicker, and less wasteful," said Andreas Wuellner, managing director of SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers LLC, in Moses Lake, Wash.

    SGL, a joint venture partner with BMW, on Friday announced a new $200 million investment to triple the capacity of its Moses Lake factory, making it the largest such installation in the world. The location of the plant was chosen, in part, because the electricity could be furnished by hydroelectric generators, which produce little or no carbon dioxide compared to fossil-fuel plants

    The gas-electric plug-in hybrid i8, weighing 3,274 pounds (about 1,000 pounds less than an aluminum-bodied Tesla Model S electric), can accelerate to 60 miles per hour from 0 in about 4.4 seconds. Though the U.S. federal fuel efficiency rating hasn't yet been released, BMW engineers calculate it will be about 90 miles per gallon.

    i8 can be driven in five different modes, each of which optimizes some combination of range, power, fuel efficiency, or battery charge. Under ideal conditions, the car can be driven as far as 375 miles before it needs a fill-up or a charge. But it can also be driven up to 23 miles in battery-only mode.

    As if the i8's low-slung body wasn't sexy enough, its gullwing doors deliver a heart-fluttering caress. (BMW calls them "scissor" doors to avoid the gullwing designation first made famous by archrival Mercedes-Benz (DDAIY).)

    BMW's $41,400 i3 already appears to be a hit. The automaker said in April that it was increasing the rate of production to 100 cars per day, in the face of strong initial demand. Both models are built at BMW's factory in Leipzig, Germany, which is powered in part by wind turbines.

    BMW has dabbled with carbon fiber previously: Its extensive use in i3 and i8, like Ford Motor Company's (F) decision to manufacture its next-generation F Series pickup from aluminum, are signs that environmental concerns are growing daily as a critical factor in vehicle design.