The 2011 BMW i3 concept car's passenger cell was made of what material?

The 2011 BMW i3 concept car’s passenger cell was made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic.

BMW called the lightweight passenger compartment the Life Module. It was built primarily from carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic, commonly abbreviated CFRP, and mounted on a separate aluminum Drive Module containing the battery, suspension, powertrain and structural underpinnings.

This construction was central to the i3’s electric-car strategy. Batteries add substantial mass, so BMW used carbon fiber to reduce the body’s weight while preserving a rigid safety cell. The approach also allowed BMW to design the car around a flat underfloor battery and a rear-mounted electric motor rather than adapting a conventional gasoline-car platform.

The 2011 concept previewed the production i3, which began assembly in Leipzig in 2013. The production car became one of the first mass-produced vehicles to use CFRP extensively in its body structure. The wrong options can be confusing because aluminum was also important: it formed much of the lower Drive Module, while CFRP defined the passenger cell above it.