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Kranz stands in front of the CFRP passenger cell of an i3 used for crash testing.

BMW i Project manager Ulrich Kranz recently spoke with Automobilwoche about how BMW i came to be. Automobilwoches sister publication Automotive News Europe then posted the following interview on their site:


How did Project i get started? Did BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer knock on your door one day and say: The two of us need to discuss the future of the automobile?
- It wasnt entirely like that. At that point, some management board workshops were under way and dealing with the future of BMW. A number of initiatives were developed to get BMW in shape for 2020. Project i was an initiative that we carried out as part of our Number One strategy.

Was it already called that?
- Its name was already Project i, and in 2007 I got the job of turning it into a reality.


What were you asked to do? 

- The job was to position BMW for the future -- and that was in all fields: from materials to production, from technologies to new vehicle architectures. The agenda included the development of sustainable mobility concepts, new sales channels and marketing concepts, along with acquiring new customers.


How great was your freedom?
- I had the freedom to assemble a team the way I wanted. The project was not tied to one of the companys brands so it could tackle any pro blem. We were allowed to completely break away from the existing structures.


How big was the team at the start?
- Besides myself, it was a team of seven at first: a designer; a vehicle architect; a purchaser; and three other specialists in production, marketing and finance; and then someone to keep the whole organization running. We call that individual a process steerer.


How big is your team now?
- Today several hundred people work on the development of the BMW i vehicle and the mobility services associated with it.


What criteria did you use to choose your people? Did you look for visionary types?
- I was allowed to obtain the right employees both internally and externally, and that is what I did. One issue was very important to me: I looked for people who had once been independent professionals or were operating their own businesses because they approach an issue holisticall y, consider the long term and think strategically. In addition, I brought a mix of young guns and veterans who had already brought a vehicle to volume production.


How did everything proceed after the team was established?
- At first, we launched an intensive research phase that dealt with mobility questions and customers future needs. Where do we need to delve deeply into the issue of sustainability? How well will customers accept a new product and a new technology such as electric mobility? Urbanization was one of the identifiable trends. In 2007, more people already lived in cities than in the countryside. Based on forecasts, more than 60 percent of the worlds population will live in an urban environment in 2030. We wanted to see what that meant concretely on site.


Where did your team travel?
- We traveled to a total of 20 mega-cities, including Los Angeles, Mexico City, London, Tokyo and Shanghai. We met people who live in metropolises and who indicated that they had a sustainable lifestyle. We lived with them, traveled with them to work and asked questions.


What did you ask them?
- We wanted to know the products that they would like from a car manufacturer, how their commute to work could be improved and how they imagined their mobility in the future. As a second step, we asked the mayors and city planners in each metropolis about their infrastructure problems, the regulations for internal combustion engines and the advantages of electric vehicles.


What findings did you reach?
- One finding was that there are great differences between the metropolises. For example, Barcelona is an old city with narrow streets that has grown over time. The demand for scooters is high there. In Mexico City, cars provide protection and a retreat to escape all the hectic activity there. In Tokyo, there is a good traffi c control system; customers want to be well networked in their vehicles and get an overview of all the control systems. Some cultural circumstances surprised us as western Europeans. For example, a large portion of the Japanese living in Tokyo between the ages of 18 and 22 are not even interested in getting a drivers license.


Why has no special small car been developed for metropolises with little space for parking?
- That also occurred to us. But all our inquiries told something else: Customers do not want to do without comfort and safety. They are actually very sensitive to environmental issues, but they are not willing to put up with substantial limitations in their vehicles.


How do your respondents plan to travel in the future?
- Despite the traffic jams, many people do not want to do without a car of their own.


Parallel to your research, you promoted the pilot project for the electric Mini E. Why?
- It was clear to us relatively quickly that the first stage in development would be a car that operated as environmentally friendly as possible, meaning emission-free. The simplest, quickest way to see how an electric vehicle would go down with the public was to convert an existing car and send it into the market. A Project i team had customers test electric Minis in Europe, Asia and the U.S. The findings proved extremely valuable to us.

Where did you get the idea to construct the passenger compartment of carbon?
- We knew that we needed a lightweight vehicle and that we had years of expertise in carbon-fiber reinforced plastics and mixes of materials. We asked ourselves how we could reduce throughput times and the investment in manufacturing through the use of a new vehicle architecture.


Can you cite an example?
- One example is the paint shop: a large building involving high investme nt and long throughput times. If it were no longer needed, we could save a tidy sum of money. The desire for a completely corrosion-free vehicle emerged from the development department. Carbon-fiber reinforced plastic met these standards, but it had to be cost-effective -- or we had to compensate for the price somewhere else. A smaller vehicle could get by with a smaller battery, and the battery is considerably more expensive than carbon-fiber reinforced plastic. So one thing led to another.


When did it become clear that the Megacity Vehicle would be a carbon vehicle?
- We discussed the issue with the management board in 2008.


What was Project is greatest challenge?
- This is a very comprehensive project. One is developing a technology separately within one team. Balancing out the entire Project i, considering all the aspects and keeping them all in view, that was each of the participants true masterstrok e.


Initially, did you think the job would be so wide-ranging?
- That was clear to me immediately. I saw it as a real opportunity. But you have to find good people who also see such a major undertaking as an opportunity. And we have these people.

Kranz gave Georg Kacher of Car Magazine a ride in a test i3 a few months ago. Kacher was very impressed and wrote a glowing article on his impressions.

The charging stations at the parking garage in Montclair, NJ are frequently ICEd. This is a common problem across the country. Quick Charge Power has a solution: The JLong.

If you drive an electric vehicle and rely on public charging infrastructure, then youve most likely come across situations where the public charging station you arrived at was blocked by a car that isnt plugged in. At the very least its frustrating, and at the worst its disastrous if you absolutely need to charge in order to contin ue driving that day.

ICE-ing is an epidemic

When an EV owner pulls up to a charging station and a gas car is parked there, they call it being "ICEd," referencing the Internal Combustion Engine of the car blocking them from charging. However this unfortunately isnt only happening with ICE vehicles. Now that electric vehicles are increasing in numbers and parking is always a premium in some locations, some EV owners are using the charging station spaces to park, even when they dont have to plug in. In my opinion, this is far worse than when the driver of an ICE vehicle parks there because the EV owner should know better. In any case, the person blocked from the charging station is terribly inconvenienced.

If you are low on charge and cant make it to the nearest alternative charging station, there isnt much you can do. You can:
A) Wait for the person to move their car so you can pull into the space and plug in.
B) Try to find the person who is parked there to see if theyll move their car, or
C) Call the police and have the car ticketed and towed, but only if there is specific signage allowing that, which isnt the case for most public charging locations. These options are time consuming and bothersome, and theres no guarantee that the car will move in time to allow you to charge as much as you need to.

To illustrate how the JLong works I chose to use it without cars blocking the cameras view. You can see I was easily able to park one space away from the EVSE and with the extra cable coiled up on the ground in front of my car I could have definitely even parked another space away and had plenty of cable to reach.  Click on the photo to enlarge.

Then there is another issue that sometimes creates problems for public charging stations; the snow. When snow plow crews clear parking lots they push the snow wherever its most convenient, and where there is room to accommodate the piles of snow they produce. Often thats where the EVSEs are located. I own a commercial property that had two ChargePoint EVSEs and I can say first hand they present a problem during the winter months. I want to keep them clear and accessible, but thats not always possible, especially when there are frequent storms with a lot of snow like we had this winter. I do my best to clear a path to the EVSEs but the cars still need to park much further from the charging stations than they usually do, and if they dont get to park in the spot closest to the EVSE the cable wont reach the vehicle.

This isnt all that uncommon during the winter months in areas that get a lot of snow. Without a product like the JLong youll never reach your car with that cable. Photo credit: Chevy Volt Owners Facebook group.

Now there is a simple solution that will instantly solve the problem in many of these frustrating situations and its called the JLong. You plug one end of it into the connector from the EVSE, and the other end has a J1772 connector that plugs into your car. Available from Quick Charge Power the JLong is an extension cord for electric vehicle charging stations. It is compatible with the J1772 connector which is the connector used by all modern highway-capable electric vehicles sold in North America with the exception of Tesla. Tesla however provides a free J1772 adapter with every car they sell so this can also be used with Tesla vehicles.

Credit: Andy Stewart Facebook

The JLong can be custom ordered with any length of cable, but comes standard with lengths of 10, 20, 30 and 40 feet. Personally I believe the 20 foot cable is adequate for most situations, but it wouldnt hurt to have an extra 10 feet just in case the first available space is a couple of spaces from the EVSE. Youll regret not spending the extra money for a longer cable if you come up short one day.

Since most parking spaces in the US are 8 feet to 9 feet wide, a 20 foot JLong, combined with the EVSEs cable will allow you to park three spaces away from it and still plug in. For every ten feet of cable you add, you can park in one space further and still plug in. Pricing is reasonable considering its a quality product, and dependent on the length of cable you wish to ord er.

The JLong comes with a small lock to lock the J1772 connector which prevents someone from unplugging and stealing it

The JLong is made in the US and appears to be very well made. There are other J1772 extensions on the market but the JLong seems to be the highest quality one that Ive come across so far which is why Im comfortable recommending it here. I even know one person who bought a similar product from another company and returned it because they didnt think the quality was up to par. They then bought a JLong  a couple months ago and have been very happy with it. From the Quick Charge Power site:

"...Our second generation JLong, has a custom handle (see photo) built of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy and TIG welded. It is powder coated with a special "grip" feature and is laser etched with our logo. 

We use a special 8 conductor cable assembly built to our unique specification for maximum flexibility and light weight.The entire assembly will be good for up to 40 amps. All power conductors are professionally crimped to military and aerospace specifications. We dont use alloy aluminum handles, custom cables and mil-spec professional crim ps (amongst many other features) because its cheap. We do it because its the best.

Our new price with all these features is now $199.00 for 10 feet. Each additional foot is $5. If somebody were to run over your JLong in the parking lot, theres a good chance that the host J1772 plug will be destroyed and your JLong just might still be usable."

Even BMW dealerships have ICEing problems. I recently stopped at this BMW dealership in NJ for a quick boost and found the EVSE blocked. In this instance I could have reached the cable but then Id be blocking the lane for cars to drive by. To make matters worse there were plenty of parking spaces open for the dealer to park the cars within 30 feet of this but they blocked the EVSE anyway.  The JLong gives you a lot of flexibility on where you can park and still plug in.

I come across a lot of products for electric vehicles, and this is one I can honestly say is a must have for those who rely on public charging. Its a high quality unit, made in Kennewick, Washington and appears able to withstand the rigors of being used in public places, stepped on and even possibly run over (But I still wouldnt recommend that). Both ends have covers to prevent snow, mud, etc, from getting in should you drop it and it has a custom built, 4th generation design cable assembly built in Ontario, California USA. In most cases it will allow you to avoid being blocked from plugging in, so you can continue on with your daily activities and not worry about how youre going to make it to the next destination, or even home later that day. You can order a JLong from Quick Char ge Power from this link.

I also want to mention that Electric Auto Association members get a 5% discount on all Quick Charge Power products along with free shipping on orders over $100.