What can an EV do for you? Introducing BMW EVolve – a new iPhone/iPad App from BMW that helps you get a feel for what it’s like switching to an EV (Electric Vehicle) like the BMW ActiveE.

The App helps users track their daily driving habits and after three trips will tell them how EV-compatible they are. But before going ‘real time’, you’re invited to input daily trips into the EV Calculator to see how electric mobility could impact the environment and your wallet. They’ve even added a social element to the experience, enabling users to earn badges for downloading the app, sharing results with friends and performing a personal evaluation.

To start the process, visit bmwactivatethefuture.com where you can login to the dashboard and begin evaluating your trips. Although you can connect using most of the social logins, we only managed to successfully do so with Facebook connect.

On a 600-mile family trip from Cambridge, England to Geneva, Switzerland we managed to save $43.48, but perhaps more importantly 117 lbs of CO2. The dashboard then goes on to illustrate this saving using several easy-to-understand CO2 equivalence benchmarks – in our case to offset 117 lbs of CO2 emissions, we’d have to plant 1 tree each year and the App goes on to explain that we’d produce the same amount of emissions if we threw out 9 full bags of garbage.

It’s not entirely clear whether BMW are trying to encourage us to plant more trees or just exchange our weekend trip to Geneva for a spot of garbage disposal. Either way, it might be fun to try out a few scenarios and collect some more badges.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to input a trip to the Nordschliefe, followed by a dozen or so laps of the ‘ring – I suspect we might just have to plant a whole forest of trees to offset such indulgence.

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