My daily car is a gas-burning BMW 135i. While I’m a big fan of the potential performance gains and obvious environmental benefits of electric cars, the market hasn’t yet met my needs. I’m not willing to sacrifice performance nor can I sacrifice range (the Bay Area is big — San Francisco to San Jose is 50 miles one-way). And otherwise superb Tesla triggers a different form of range anxiety — price range. The auto industry will solve these challenges in the next few years.

One of the more promising EVs on the horizon is the BMW i3, a car designed from scratch for an optimal electric experience and expected to go on sale in late 2013. As part of BMW’s test efforts, they have installed the i3′s electric powertrain in about a thousand BMW 1-series coupes, rebadged as the ActiveE. Today I drove one.

To be clear, comparing the performance of a 135i and the ActiveE is not a fair test, and I’m not going to declare a winner. The 135i weighs about 3,400 pounds and generates 300 horsepower from its twin-turbo 6-cylinder engine. The ActiveE weighs about 4,000 pounds and only generates 168 hp from its 32kWh batteries. But the ActiveE should provide a good feel for BMW’s electric powertrain, which will soon be found in the i3, as well as the impact on handling from switching a front-mounted engine for a rear-mounted electric motor and hundreds of pounds of batteries. If the ActiveE generally handles the way a BMW should, then the i3, which is expected to weigh well under 3,000 pounds, should be a blast to drive.

I drove the ActiveE from San Francisco to Stinson Beach, taking Panoramic Highway, one of my favorite coastal mountain roads in Marin County. In the city, pulling away from a stop sign is deeply satisfying with an immediate rush of torque and shift-free linear acceleration. The ActiveE doesn’t have a high enough power-to-weight ratio to be truly fast, but its smooth, instant acceleration at lower speeds makes it feel quick, especially when darting through city traffic. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and motoring up a steep hill on Highway 101 to 70 mph was uninspiring but again adequate. The motor is always ready to pull ahead with of course no downshift lag, but the absolute power of a downshift to 4th gear in the 135i is clearly absent.

The aggressive regenerative braking has a good linear feel, and I quickly stopped using my brake pedal for 90% or more of my braking. The ActiveE’s deceleration was about double the effect of coasting in the 135i at 4,000 RPM. Pretty aggressive and a good way to improve range. Reminds to look into whether electric cars light up their brake lights when aggressively decelerating without actual braking.

The tight curves through the forest and dropping into Stinson Beach were reassuredly pure BMW — well balanced, precise turning, and solid and progressive grip. Forced into using a 1-series shell designed for a gas engine, BMW carefully spread out the batteries in three locations: back of the engine bay, transmission tunnel, and trunk, maintaining a near 50:50 weight distribution. The center of gravity though could be improved, and will be in the i3 whose batteries will be located at floor level. If you try hard enough, you can slide the tail end accelerating out of a tight corner, but the ActiveE will mostly understeer significantly more than the 135i. The ActiveE has a high stack of batteries in the engine compartment (check out the bump in the hood) that I could feel, despite the car’s overall weight balance, pulling the front end out of my turning line.

All in all, BMW’s careful attention to weight distribution and refined electric powertrain produced a car that, while nearly 700 pounds heaver than a 135i, remained worthy of its blue and white badge. The i3 should be vastly better and is eagerly awaited.

The EV market is steadily filling out, from exotic Tesla to mainstream Nissan and Chevy. Slotting nicely in the middle will be the BMW i3, a pure electric designed for urban surroundings.

BMW started this project with a clean slate and it shows. They tackle the critical EV challenge of weight by using carbon fiber for most of the passenger compartment, ending up with a curb weight of only around 2,700 pounds – 600 less than a Nissan Leaf.  Compared to the Leaf, that lower weight will allow for fewer batteries, yet similar range and better acceleration. Not to mention that this will still be a BMW, with rear-wheel drive and class-leading handling. If BMW is able to price this close to the Leaf, as rumors indicate, then BMW will have a big winner on its hands. First deliveries are expected in 2012, and no, BMW is not yet taking orders.

BMW is serious about EVs. For those needing greater range, they plan on offering an optional range-extending gas generator.  And for those just wanting the ultimate performance machine, they will roll out the i8 a year later.

This afternoon Nissan held a Leaf test drive event in San Jose, their first event in the Bay Area (a San Francisco event is next month). I brought the whole family to take a spin.

Despite the rain and a Giants World Series game, the place was packed. A Nissan staff member told me they typically overbook these events in anticipation of no-shows, but not this crowd — 800+ reservations showed up plus more walk-ins. People were waiting in line up to 2 hours just for a 5-minute test drive, which was more Disneyland ride than real test drive — register, wrist band, long line, staging area to load up into one of about 10 cars, followed by quick drive around some quiet downtown San Jose streets.

But it served its purpose. My wife and 4-year-old daughter loved the Leaf — “smooth and quiet.” And I wasn’t surprised. A gas vehicle, with its internal combustion and gear shifting, can’t really compete with the single-gear purring of an electric motor. I was pleased with the Leaf’s driving performance. While the Leaf is not designed to be a sports car (try a Tesla for that), EVs have an on/off sensation that makes accelerating from a standstill fun. In comparison to a gas engine, which has little power when you first step on the gas at low RPM, an electric motor provides 100% of its oomph (torque) at zero RPM. Sort of like turning on a light switch. The result: Flooring it will chirp the tires pulling out of a red light. Once home, I dug up some data to back up my sensation. 0-60 times, in seconds:

• Nissan Leaf: 7.0 (Autoblog)
• Toyota Prius: 10.1 (Edmunds)
• Chevy Volt: 8.8 (Autoblog)
• Honda Accord (4 cyl): 9.1 (Edmunds)
• BMW 328i: 6.4 (Edmunds)

There you go. The Leaf beats various hybrid and gas benchmarks and is almost as fast as a BMW 328i, a more-than-fair comparison.

Handling felt nimble, although to be fair I need a little more driving time, including freeway and hills (Popular Science has a great complete review). The regenerative breaking effect is modest (and has low and high settings), much like a Prius. And we packed in 5 comfortably. I think the low operating costs and practical hatchback design will likely make the Leaf an owner’s primary vehicle for commuting, errands and short weekend trips. Which means the only hurdle, and it’s a big one, to sales success is driving range and charging, but I’ll leave that discussion for another post.

Bottom line: My family wants a Leaf!