Unleash Your Inner Child: Riding the BMW CE 02

(This piece also appeared on BMWBLOG on May 6th, 2024. You can check it out here.)

“Hey, man, is that electric? That thing is awesome!”

At the recent BMW Media Launch for both the all-new F 900 GS and CE 02 in Las Vegas, I had the opportunity to put the CE 02, BMW Motorrad’s latest electric scooter, through its paces for a day of grooving and shimmying around various landmarks, avoiding unceasing roadwork and traffic jams and mobile ads for zombie burlesque shows (don’t ask), all while exploring the limits of BMW’s latest 2-wheeled runabout.  I wouldn’t be needing my customary ear plugs for this test.

Testing BMW’s Latest Electric Marvel in Las Vegas

I live in the dense urban core of a large Midwestern city, and of late, my most common street sighting has been that of traffic cones and construction equipment.  Thus, for those of us with, you know, cars, access has been pinched and restricted and limited (the “road diet” of which urban planners are so fond), even making quick errands require advanced planning and blood pressure medicine.  What’s a driver (or motorcyclist) to do?

Enter BMW’s solution to this increasingly common urban challenge, both in the US and abroad:  The CE 02.

The Rise of the CE 02

BMW describes the CE 02 as an “eParkourer” Urban Mobility Vehicle, and while I’m perhaps not hip enough to fully grasp that concept, what I can say is, the CE 02 is a veritable grin factory.  As an alternative to a Vespa Elettrica or Honda Grom, the CE 02 is an adorable and lively little jackrabbit.  BMW’s market brief positions the CE 02 as a competitor to all manner of smaller scooters and bikes, both conventional and electric, and even smaller-displacement motorcycles like the KTM Duke 125.  But its real achievement is just banishing urban commuting malaise.

The Design Language of the CE 02

Design wise, the CE 02 is cute as a box of kittens.  You know those impossible Hot Wheels concepts first-year design students dream up every year at the ArtCenter College of Design?  The CE 02 is like that, only doodled on an iPad by a bored high-school kid serving detention.  The look is accentuated by single-sided swingarm and 14” wheels, which lend decidedly playful elements.

Prior to the CE 02, BMW previously released the CE 04, an altogether more sober and sophisticated electric machine.  More substantial in every dimension, the CE 04 can hit 75-mph and carries 509-lbs of bulk, more closely resembling the hypergliding scooter Jeff Bridges sluiced around in “Tron” than a simple runabout.  Its design is altogether more geometric and imperious.  To mix fantasy movie metaphors, think of the CE 04 as the bike ridden by Storm Troopers chasing those pesky rebels on their CE 02 bikes.

Power and Performance: The Heart of the CE 02

The CE 02’s 48-volt electric motor, with output comparable to a 200-cc dino juice burner, is borrowed from BMW’s automobile side of the house, a nifty bit of repurposing.  It’s more than up to the task.  As Oleg Satanovsky, with BMW’s Motorcycle & Motorsport Communications Group, remarked, “If that motor is strong enough to move a 5000-pound SUV off the line, it’s certainly up to the task of powering a 291-pound bike around.”  And how.

Peak motor output is 11kW/15 hp with an optimal battery range of ~55-miles.  Top speed is 59mph, and I can validate that figure.  The motor delivers 15-hp at 5000-rpm and, significantly, 40.5-lb-ft of torque from 0-1000-rpm.  It’s connected to the rear wheel via a double belt drive with a 1:7.8 fixed ratio.
Charging is designed for standard household outlets, though the lack of support for Type 1 or 2 charging stations, and thus access to the growing urban charging infrastructure, might prove to be a limiting choice for some.  The CE 02 has 2 air-cooled batteries for drive, as well as another 12-volt battery used by the bike’s electrical system, and an LED on the traction batteries themselves always shows the charge level. An external 900-watt charger is standard, with a 1200-watt charger optional.

Technology and Simplicity: User-Friendly Features of the CE 02

The CE 02 has three drives modes: Flow, Surf, and Flash.  Flow and Flash both enable regenerative charging, with the friction resistance in Flash being significantly greater in addition to enhanced throttle response.  Think of Surf as “coast” mode.  As with most EVs, regeneration also occurs under braking, and the modes and activity of the battery and motor are displayed in the bike’s micro-TFT display.  For most of my ride, I left the bike in Flow mode to conserve energy, and while I didn’t find the snappier throttle response in Flash to be as pronounced as I’d hoped, the increased regeneration lets you essentially ride with just the throttle; it was my favorite mode of the three.

As is typical of electric vehicles, the CE 02 moves off the line with torquey verve.  0-30mph arrives in 3 seconds, which for an urban machine is more than quick enough to hit holes in traffic or even settle juvenile scores.  On our way to the National Atomic Testing Museum, a local on a Suzuki GSX-R pulled up to admire our little herd.  “Is that thing fast?” he shouted over the din at a traffic light.  When the light turned, we pinned our throttles and left him in the dust.  Yes sir, that will do. (He passed again soon after, howling with laughter, which was a relief since he was brandishing a visible handgun on his hip.  Ah, Vegas.)

The technology in the CE 02 is purposely opaque (“discreet” in BMW parlance), and the simple controls invite riders to try out the bike immediately.  At the media launch, this point was punctuated by presenting the assembled journalists with a line of shiny new scooters and the instruction of, “There they are folks, and the proximity keys are on the seats.  Have at ‘em.”  The controls are simple in the extreme, and we all figured them out within a few moments. The little bike also has the smartphone connectivity expected in a consumer product like this and works with BMW Motorrad’s Connected app to display info such as charge level, charging duration, and last trip info.

All electric vehicles of any sort carry a weight penalty due to the bulk and density of their batteries, and the CE 02 is no exception.  Tipping the scales at 291-pounds, the CE 02 outweighs a fully fueled Honda Grom by 68-pounds, but in practice, that added weight is a nonissue.  Between the CE 02’s low center of gravity and cartoonish tires, you never feel like the weight is doing anything but keeping you planted to the road.  BMW includes a handy Reverse function to mitigate any concerns about pushing the little bike around, but the added weight actually gives the little scooter vastly more substance and presence.

A Day on the CE 02

The CE 02 has a nominal range of ~55 miles, and our day’s route should have gobbled up all that juice.  But after eight hours of hooning around the urban jungle, I returned my bike with 30% of the charge remaining, all down to the magical properties of regenerative charging. (Lesson: I should have used Flash mode more liberally.) So, your mileage may vary, literally.  My takeaway with pretty much all quoted EV ranges isn’t much different from ICE vehicles.

Range is almost entirely dependent on how you use the thing, and thus I tend to intuitively know after a short time how many miles I can go without refueling in a given situation (driving around town in an SUV nets way fewer miles than driving the same vehicle on a long highway journey; duh).  The CE 02 and its ilk are no different.  In practice, that ~55 miles of range is likely more than ample for the intended usage of the little thing; no one is doing highway commuting on a CE 02 or Vespa (and if you are, thank you, hero).

Unlike it’s big brother CE 04, the 02 has zero storage space or cubbies (though an optional phone mount is included with the “Highline” trim).  There are several voids that seemingly could have been morphed into some useful storage spots, but that would have inevitably compromised the minimalist design, so it was clearly an intentional omission.  BMW Motorrad offers a bevy of fun accessories for the CE 02, including a top case, rear case, and several side case options, so anyone wanting to add a tad more utility can do so.  But out of the box, the CE 02 is very much a “toss on a backpack or messenger bag and scoot” sort of proposition.

Customization and Accessories: Personalizing the CE 02

The machine is primed for individualization.  Our test bikes came in “Cosmic Black 2” finish  and included the “Highline Package” that brings various fun and helpful goodies (including enabling the Flash drive mode), so the bikes were far from strippers. The “Price as Tested” was $9,069 when all the various packages were added up.

Our test bikes had both front and rear foot pegs, the rear ostensibly for passengers, but our group generally favored those rear foot pegs for a “Speed Racer” mode of riding, legs bent backwards with weight over the handlebars.  The negative about this position was that the seat edge tended to cut into your inner thighs a bit, so I hope some enterprising after-market firm will create a “Speed Seat” for the CE 02 that resolves this.  (The positive about this position was that it was flippin’ fun.) In fact, the entire bike seems primed for an R nineT motorcycle type of after-market accessory ecosystem, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see such a seat and many other items appearing soon.

Market Positioning and Potential: Is the CE 02 a Lifestyle Revolution?

This points to a real marketing question for the CE 02: Is BMW prepared to segment the machine into the “lifestyle brand” space, as Ducati did with their Scrambler line?  This little bike cries out for just that sort of special treatment and would help it to avoid the rather “meh” response received by the CE 04 in the US.  (On a recent visit to Paris, I saw more CE 04s in one day that I have in the entirety of the States since their launch.)

The folks who seek out a BMW Motorrad shop for a stately K 1600 GTL or uber-serious GS or go-fast S100RR are not the folks who will accessorize a CE 02 with their latest sneaks.  The CE 02 needs to be seen and played with to be really appreciated, and I hope BMW’s marketing and branding folks are busy exploring various tie-ins with non-traditional outlets.  If Yeti can make ice coolers into an upscale hipster totem, BMW certainly has the making for such a branding hit with the CE 02.

Designed in Germany, built in India, with a motor from France, not to mention a design that looks like the lovechild of a Brooklyn coffee shop and the Venice Beach boardwalk, the CE 02 has genuine global bona fides.  That in itself is cool and plays into the “Global Citizen” vibe of the hipster set.

Is BMW up to the task of positioning this unique machine?  And maybe more importantly, is the US urban market ready to adopt such a premium electric scooter?  Time will tell, but for all fans of pure joy, I sure hope so.  How much did I like the new BMW CE 02?  I haven’t had that much fun since I stopped putting playing cards in my bicycle spokes.

The Living is Easy: BMW M440i xDrive Convertible

(This piece also appeared on BMWBLOG on July 30th, 2023. You can check it out here.)

Let’s get this out of the way first:  I dig this car’s grill.  More on that later.

 The car you see here is a 2023 BMW M440i xDrive Convertible, BMW’s just-below-an-M, mid-sized, open-aired joy machine.  (And since BMW’s contemporary vehicle nomenclature can be a bit of a mouthful, we’ll just call this one the “M440i”.) In BMW parlance, this example is the second-generation of the 4-series platform, code G20/G22/G23 for the intelligentsia (the convertible is the G23) and was first released in mid-2020 as the first significant update to the 4-series platform (code F32/F33/F36) originally launched in 2014.  Notably, the G23-model convertible BMW moved away from the previous folding hardtop to a more classic multi-layered soft top design, an aesthetic and functional return to the past that, to this reviewer’s mind, is an improvement is every way.

 Assembled like all 4-Series cars at BMW’s plant in Dingolfing, Germany, this particular M440i is loaded with numerous goodies from the BMW options list, including the Dynamic Handling Package, Parking Assistance Package, Adaptive M Suspension, and gorgeous BMW M 50-Years Roundel.  It’s painted a lustrous color BMW calls Tanzanite Blue II Metallic, a stunning, deeply shimmering base for any-and-all fingerprints, with the interior in Tacora Red Vernasca Leather, which reads closer to a French Burgundy color than a true red.  It’s an elegant, timeless combo on this car, and immensely popular with pedestrians and other drivers, given the number of compliments I’ve received while tooling around.  The MSRP on this car, with its robust list of goodies, was $77,765.

 The convertible’s fabric convertible roof weighs roughly 40% less than the previous generation’s rigid folding top and takes only 18-seconds to open and close (which can also be done at speeds up to 31-mph, handy for those “first drops of rain” moments).  The frame of the top uses large panel-bow elements with honeycomb construction for lightness and rigidity and features a flush-sitting glass rear window with full defrost.  The top is extremely quiet, allows for a sleeker coupe profile, and increases trunk space from the previous generation, with 9.0-cubic/ft of storage space and a pass-through for longer items.

 As with most 4-seat convertibles, the M440i is fitted with a manual wind deflector to quiet turbulence in the cabin, and the deflector comes with its own cargo bag to store in the cabin.  While it’s simple to fit and certainly works as designed, in practice it’s a bit of a chore to install and most drivers will either leave it in place (hello, Florida or Arizona) or rarely if ever fit the device at all (hello, the rest of the world).  A permanent, powered wind deflector for a 4-seat convertible remains one of the engineering holy grails it seems.

Inline-6 for the Win

BMWs are righty lauded for their Inline-6 motors, the configuration that’s been the marque’s calling card for generations of cars.  (With a few oddballs thrown in; I still get misty thinking about the bespoke V8 in the E92 generation of M3 cars.) This iteration is a worthy addition to that legacy.  Codenamed B58, this motor is a 3.0-liter twin-scroll turbocharged inline-6, which began production in 2015.  The water-to-air intercooler is integrated into the intake plenum, and the engine is equipped with both of BMW’s “killer-V” technologies (Double Vanos, aka variable valve timing, and Valvetronic, aka variable valve lift).  At 7000rpm, the B58 makes 382-hp and 369-ft/lbs of torque from 1800rpm onwards.

Power is put down through the ubiquitous ZF-sourced 8-speed automatic transmission, and in this car’s case, BMW’s available xDrive AWD system coupled to an M-Sport differential and suspension.  (And while I, like most enthusiasts, would love the option of a manual, this car’s personality is well flattered by the ZF.)  Performance is impressive.  The car launches from 0-60mph in 4.7-sec according to BMW, who is known for conservative official performance numbers.  Other instrumented road testers have measured the same acceleration as 4.1sec for the 0-60 sprint, and some have measured even quicker to that.  Suffice it to say it scoots and is even quicker than the aforementioned V8-powered M3.

The Nose Knows

Now, about that front grill.  Recently, more angst-ridden sentences have been written about the large kidney grill on the 4-series than tears shed at the Hatch Chile Eating Contest, but what many reviewers and casual observers fail to note is the historical context of the design.  Much of the howling distills down to one errant point:  How could BMW dilute the elegance of the classic kidney grill to such a degree?  But this fails even the most basic contextual observation, that being that there is literally no single benchmark shape of the kidney grill design over time.

BMW 328, running at the Mille Miglia

Witness, for example, one of the most classic of all BMWs, the 1930s-era 328.  It’s a stunning design by any measure, held in esteem by Bimmer fans everywhere.  And one that also has a huge grill that spans the entire vertical width of the vehicle.  Precedent!  (Also, anyone who glimpsed the luscious 328 Hommage Concept from 2011 shouldn’t have been surprised when the double-height grill made another appearance.)

For a quick primer on kidney grill shapes over the years, BMW provides an excellent guide: “The BMW Kidney Grille Through Time.”  From the 503 to the M1 to the E9 CS to the i3 to the XM to the current-generation 4-series, there exists a wonderful variety of kidney grille shapes and sizes for almost the past one hundred years of BMW design.  And with even a cursory glance at the current lineup of BMWs on today’s market, it’s clear we’re living in a golden age of BMW grill shapes.  Do I love them all? No.  Am I delighted there’s such variety?  Absolutely. 

All that said, ultimately design and aesthetics is down to the eye of the beholder, and to my eye, the 4-series design is elegant, dramatic, and proportional.  (And the hood scallops on the M3/4 models make it even more so.) Most of all, it’s distinctive; there’s no doubt what model you’re seeing when you see a 4-series from the front.

When is an M-car Not an M-car?

The M-Performance designation of BMW’s has also caused relative Sturm und Drang amongst the aficionados, who view any “dilution” of the M-brand as heresy to be handled with Bastille Day fervor.  But this reviewer thinks BMW did an immense service to lovers of well-balanced performance cars everywhere by creating this “almost-M” line of engines and suspensions.

Perhaps this will get me excommunicated from BMWBLOG, but I find most contemporary M-cars to be almost too punishing and challenging to drive on most normal roads (especially those in the US, which tend towards broken pavement and a patchwork of materials), not to mention with levels of engine power that are impossible to access in any manner short of felonious or irresponsible.  Enter the M-Performance series of vehicles.  With power levels that aren’t obscene and suspension tuning that trends towards the more compliant, the M-Performance range live in a Goldilocks Zone between largely pedestrian and over-the-top.

For example, this M440i convertible.  Regardless of how you spin it, a convertible of this type tends towards the GT side of the automotive continuum, rather than as a pure sports car (BMW offers the Z4 for that).  While the M4 Convertible is an utter hoot, it can be a bit harsh, and if you’re really flogging it to get at what makes it so special, the topless nature of the car exposes compromises in both stability and passenger comfort that just don’t make much sense.  You don’t buy a car like this to be beaten up; you buy a car like this for the serenity and joy of wafting along in open air, the sights and smells of the environment blending with the tactility of the car for that special driving pleasure experience.  The overall M-Performance package absolutely delivers.  It’s likely more car than you’ll ever need but provides just the “right amount of that much more” that you’ll really want.

Top-Down Bonus Ratio

A few years back, when I reviewed the M235i xDrive Convertible, a friend stuck his nose in a spreadsheet, did some fancy cyphering, allegedly had a cocktail or two, and calculated that each day of top-down driving was worth 6.4-days of driving with the top up, for a ratio of 6.4:1.  With this M440i convertible, I’d likely revise that to be an even higher ratio, as the enjoyability of this car (top up or down, honestly) is immense.  The engine starts with an appealing little bark, then settles down to a tensioned smoothness at idle, which builds quickly (with the usual modern turbocharged flatulence) in all gears.   The transmission’s Sport setting is your exuberant friend for most daily chores and has the added benefit of disabling the Auto Start/Stop system; there’s no dedicated button to do that, as in full-M models.  (Though in fairness, the Start/Stop system in this car is almost transparent, thanks to the 48v mild-hybrid system that smoothly relights the engine with even the gentlest lift from the brake pedal when at a standstill.)

Recently, on a drive from West-Central Missouri down through the wonderfully twisting (and newly paved) Ozark roads in and around Bentonville, Arkansas, I had an opportunity to really flog the car a bit.  Handling is precise and direct, with little of the dead-on-center feel of the last couple of generations of BMW 3- and 4-series cars.  Steering response isn’t as leisurely as on non-M-Performance models, but also not as darty as on contemporary full-M models.  That Goldilocks Zone is very much in play here.

As with all M-Performance models, the M440i lets you choose between several drive modes to tune the car’s overall feel.  These modes are accessed through four buttons on the center console, labeled Sport, Comfort, Eco Pro, and Adaptive.  Each mode is distinctive, but after living with the car a bit, I settled on Adaptive with the transmission in Sport mode as my typical setting, to bring the car alive but not in a harsh way.  Serenity is the point of cars like this.

Cowl shake over lousy pavement or railroad tracks is barely noticeable, and the difference in rigidity between the convertible and the hard-top model is negligible and more than outweighed by the bonus of being out in the world.  That said, I’m a fan of convertible cars in general and thus I’m clearly in BMW’s target market here, but even for those who wouldn’t normally gravitate to topless versatility, the gap between the coupe and convertible in terms of driving dynamics seems minimal.

The Living is Easy

As a flexible GT car that offers the distinctive benefit of letting you literally smell the roses and work on that always-fetching wind-blown look, the M440i xDrive Convertible is a well-resolved and engaging package.  It’s planted on the road, powerful, and comfortable, and has a shape and presence that sets it apart from other mid-sized, 2+2 convertibles on the road (admittedly a small class).  A day wafting along behind this steering wheel is time well spent indeed.  For those looking for a versatile and capable premium convertible, it should be at the top of the wish list.