And now for something completely different!

David, who has always pooh-poohed the concept of electric cars, has bought an electric car!

Don’t worry, David hasn’t gone all tree-hugger on us. But, BMW has designed the i3 to take advantage of the lack of an engine block and transmission to create a small hatchback (outside barely bigger than his MINI), and give it a very spacious, open interior. The battery is low, and the body is made entirely of carbon fiber, so the center of mass is low. That low center of gravity, plus some clever suspension and tire engineering, gives the car great handling.

We got the version with a small gasoline motor (“range extender”). The gasoline motor never drives the wheels - it’s only purpose is to recharge the battery when the stored charge gets below a particular threshold.