BMW will test second electric car in four U.S. metro areas in 2011

BMW will test the ActiveE, its second non-production electric car, in New York metropolitan area (including Connecticut and New Jersey), Southern California (including San Diego), Northern California (greater San Francisco and Sacramento) and the Boston area in mid-2011.

The four-passenger ActiveE is based on the 1 Series Coupe and has a 32-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack. Introduced at the Detroit auto show in January, the ActiveE has a 100-mile range per charge. It takes 8.5 seconds to reach 60 miles per hour and has a maximum speed 90 mph.

BMW’s Mini E, its debut electric vehicle, was deployed worldwide and now including more than 600 test cars in its second year. The ActiveE is scheduled for testing only in the United States.

Mini E drivers will be given preference as test pilots for the ActiveE and could switch to the new car when their existing leases expire. The other cars will go to online applicants who live in the targeted test areas.

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The cars aren’t allocated yet, but California might get twice as many ActiveEs as the East Coast, according to an article in the New York Times

the ActiveE will have liquid cooling and liquid heating. The new vehicle will also allow drivers to use their smartphones to preheat or cool their cars’ cabins.

The ActiveE is not scheduled to be a production vehicle, but its electric components simulate system that will be deployed in the all-new electric Megacity Vehicle that BMW is planning in 2013.