2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 5 set for Australia | CarAdvice

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2012 BMW ActiveHybrid 5 set for Australia

BMW 5
By Jez Spinks |
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BMW is set to launch its first ever hybrid vehicle in Australia, the petrol-electric ActiveHybrid 5.

The BMW ActiveHybrid 5 is the German car maker’s first petrol-electric vehicle developed for right-hand drive, following the ActiveHybrid 7 and ActiveHybrid X6 models sold in some left-hand-drive markets such as North America.

BMW Australia told CarAdvice the more environmentally focused version of the 5-Series, which debuted as a concept at March’s Geneva motor show before being unveiled in production form in Frankfurt in September, was likely to come to Australia in mid 2012.

“It’s looking good to come to Australia,” says BMW Australia spokesman Piers Scott. “This is the first hybrid with right-hand drive and the first to be applied to the six-cylinder rather than the V8 engine.

“In terms of appealing to your sustainable-motoring-minded luxury car enthusiast, this is more attainable and more practical than before.

“The target market will be those who want to have their cake and eat it, too. There is no sacrifice in performance. It should match a 535i [for acceleration] but of course there’s fantastic fuel economy and a zero emissions driving mode.”

Pricing for the BMW ActiveHybrid 5 is expected to sit somewhere between the $115,600 535i and $179,900 550i.

The BMW ActiveHybrid 5 combines the 225kW/400Nm turbocharged 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine from the 535i with a 40kW/210Nm electric motor, with a combined output of 250kW/450Nm (it’s not a simple case of adding the outputs).

The hybrid drivetrain is completed with the same ZF eight-speed automatic transmission found in a number of other BMW models.

The electric motor is powered by a lithium-ion battery pack that’s positioned in the boot and consequently reduces luggage space from 520 to 375 litres.

The BMW ActiveHybrid 5 will accelerate from 0-100km/h in 5.9 seconds and use as little as 6.4 litres of fuel per 100km and emit as little as 149 grams of CO2 per kilometre, according to the manufacturer.

That gives the ActiveHybrid 5 quicker performance than the 535i – third fastest overall in the 5-Series range behind the 550i and M5.

BMW says the ActiveHybrid 5 can travel for 4km at speeds of up to 60km/h on electric power alone. An Eco Pro mode will also decouple the petrol engine to allow for ‘coasting’ on the electric motor when travelling on the freeway at up to 160km/h (where permissible), while stop-start technology is also applied.


 

  • Jimmy James

    Can someone explain why its not simply a matter of combining the outputs?

    • Tom R

      If you can find a power output graph of a hybrid car you’ll see that the lines are totally different for the combustion engine and electric motor. As far as I know (and I could easily be wrong) it’s a matter of finding the points where the maps match to create the new peak power and torque.

      … Makes more sense on the graph’s.

    • Alexander

      Generally the electric motor and petrol motor reach peak power/torque at different revs, or the motor is designed to fill out weak spots in the engines power band. It also depends on the battery charge, vehicle speed etc. For example a Gen 2 Prius used to output 400nm of torque from about 10-40km/h if the battery charge was about 60%, but getting a reliable number on a dyno is near impossible, hence why Toyota doesn’t quote torque figures for its hybrids.

  • Mr Gaspo

    Wow, they have put the battery in the boot… Fail.

  • laurie

    Where is the Greens and Labor on this! why no Tax reduction for going Hybrid its all BS!! lets get back into V8′s

  • Jimmy James

    Thanks Tom and Alexander for the explanation.

  • Phil

    Jez, I suggest you pop over to the CA article(s) on the “2012 BMW 5 series range updated”.

    A 0-100km\h time of 5.9 secs does not give this Hybrid5 the third fastest rank in the range. 5.9 secs is the same as the updated 535i and SLOWER than the 535D which is now 5.5 secs (previously 5.7).

  • BoBo

    How come manufacturers dont go with turbo diesel electrice hybrids? Wouldnt it be even better since a turbo diesel engine alone provide excellent fuel consumption…so attaching a hybrid motor surely would make it more efficient???

    • Alexander

      It would be near ideal – problem is diesels are more expensive than petrols, and hybrids are more expensive than petrols. Combine the two and they’d be too expensive to compete.

      • BoBo

        Oh…..i thought it was something more technical to it…like maybe diesel engines not compatible with electric motors or something. i didnt think cost could be an issue…

    • Golfschwein

      Peugeot’s got it up and running. The trouble for many years, developmentally, has (perhaps among other things) been the thumpy shutdown and startup behaviour of diesels, I think. Nowhere near as smooth as petrol, and that presents a refinement challenge for likely buyers. Diesel Passats with the stop-start tech apparently suffer from this a little. I’m well open for correction.

  • Golfschwein

    Good tech, and I dig the wheels and the colour of the car in the pics.

  • Scott

    the outputs arrive at different rpms for each motor. so each can’t be putting out their max output at the same time