BMW electric car ad banned over misleading 'clean car' claims

Ruling by advertising watchdog could have knock on effect on other electric car advertising

The car company BMW has been censured by the UK's advertising watchdog for claiming an electric car equipped with a small petrol engine was "clean" and "zero emissions", in a ruling that could have a knock-on effect on other electric car advertising.

The advertising was published in the form of a Facebook post that used testimonials from real customers to extol the virtues of the BMW i3. That model is unusual among electric vehicles, as in addition to the electric drive, it also has a small petrol engine. However, unlike "hybrid" cars, which have a petrol-driven engine that can take over from the electric system when it runs out of charge, on longer journeys or at higher speeds, the i3's petrol engine is only used to maintain the charge on the electric drive.