Just about every automaker in the world is working on an all-electric vehicle right now.  We here at Center BMW, for example, should get our first batch of ActiveE models in just a little over a year, and admittedly those will be the first production electric cars that we'll have ever sold.

But let's not pretend like the idea of an electric car is something brand new.  It's not.  Gasoline-run cars have always been the standard, but engineers have long wondered if there might be a better, more efficient, more economic, and more environmentally-friendly way of doing things.  BMW engineers, just as an example, have been fiddling around with the idea for forty years.

In much the same way that BMW is gearing up to take the ActiveE for some test runs during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, we did the same thing with the 1972 Olympics in Munich, where BMW debuted a 1602 sports sedan that ran entirely on electric batteries.  These weren't lithium ion batteries like we use today, either; it was just a six-pack of gigantic lead acid batteries and a 32-kw motor.  The goal for the vehicle was to run the distance of a marathon-26 miles-and it was a goal they achieved.

Not bad for 1972, if we do say so ourselves, and certainly an interesting trip down memory lane as we gear up for the first serious wave of electric vehicles to arrive at BMW dealers in Los Angeles.  These are going to change the way we live and drive, but it was an idea BMW has spent the last forty years cultivating.