BMW E1

BMW E1 is the name of two electric and hybrid city car concepts by BMW, revealed at the 1991 and then the 1993 International Motor Show Germany. The first-generation prototype, the Z11, was revealed in 1991 and was all-electric, and only one example was built. It was a fully functional three-door, four-seat electric city car, whose development began in 1990 at BMW Technik, a division started in 1985 to develop new technologies for cars. It was designed to test whether a production electric car would work, partly because California demanded that 2 percent of new cars sold in the state be zero emission, the same reason General Motors created the EV1. The Z11 was powered by a 19 kWh sodium sulphate battery that drove a direct-drive motor on the rear axle.