first drive BMW i4 eDrive 40 & BMW iX xDrive 40

ON A BRIGHT SPRING MORNING IN LONDON NINE YEARS AGO, BMW SHOWED US THE FUTURE.

We gathered at a venue on the banks of the Thames, as BMW treated the press to its big reveal – the first fully electric, production BMW. continued on next page

It was called i3, a compact and futuristic city car that looked just like we expected an electric car to look like. And it’s proved to be a durable little car, too – nine years later, you can still buy one from your BMW dealer.

What didn’t happen was the expected torrent of follow-up electric vehicles. But no. Rather than further ‘i’ models, BMW’s engineers focused on hybrid versions of traditional models – to considerable success.

But back in Munich, the engineers were beavering away on EV research and development. Because for all the i3’s charm, it wasn’t really a “proper” BMW. It was a foot in the door – but BMW wasn’t ready to make the big EV play. And now it is. This time, we’re on a wet and windy Farnborough airfield, but we’re about to get a first drive of the first two of BMW’s second wave of EVs – the iX SUV and the i4 sports saloon. And this time, it’s serious.

These two cars are the start of not so much a wave as a tsunami of new electric BMWs. In fact there are nine models in the pipeline between now and 2025, including fully-electric cars in the 5-series and 7-series class, called, as expected, i5 and i7.

Worldwide, BMW expects to sell 4.6 million fully electric vehicles within the next 10 years – an average of 460,000 per year and a huge increase from the 40,000 or so i3s it has been selling in recent times.

A new small car range called i1 and iX1 (for the crossover variant) will replace the doughty i3, and will compete directly with Volkswagen’s ID.3. A replacement i3 will be a larger car in the 3-series mould. We’ve already seen a third electric model, the iX3 compact SUV, and a large iX5 SUV is also on the way, based on the iNext concept we saw last year. An iX7 seven-seater is also rumoured. These won’t replace petrol and diesel models, but will run alongside as a parallel “i” range – just as VW is doing with its ID EVs.

With lightweight carbon fibre bodystructures and very advanced electric drivetrains, BMW is hoping to up the ante in terms of performance. Engineers mutter darkly that the i7 will be capable of up to 460 miles on a single charge – impressive performance that will allow long distance travel without reliance on expensive charging networks.

The two cars we drove at Farnborough are very different – and demonstrate how well BMW has grasped the EV nettle without compromising the things that people like about its cars. Precisionengineered petrol and diesels may be missing, but these cars are not going to compromise BMW’s reputation as “ultimate driving machines”.

The i4 saloon is a classic BMW performance saloon. Its target is the top-selling Tesla 3. The kidney grille has changed, becoming angular and opaque, but i4 is still recognisably a BMW. BMW describes it as a “statement vehicle” and, while it’s a little small in the back for chauffeuring, it’s a heck of a sign of things to come.

It offers a range that’s as good as anything on the market at present – 365 miles on a single charge. It’s capable of rapid charging from DC charging stations with an output of up to 200kW – not as good as the 350kW capability of some VW Group and Hyundai/Kia models, but rapid enough to allow a 10-minute top-up to deliver 102 miles of range on the i4 eDrive 40 version. Using a home charging wall-box, it takes 8.5 hours to recharge from empty to 100%.

The i4 eDrive 40 model will be the best seller, with a price of £51,095 on the road, a £7,000 premium over the cheapest equivalent diesel 420d Gran Coupe. Despite rapidly rising volumes, EVs still carry a purchase premium.

BMW i4 eDrive 40

The i4’s interior is refreshingly traditional, apart from the single wide digital panel that carries satnav and dashboard imagery. This highresolution screen was first shown at the CES show last year, and here it is on a production car less than a year later. You’ll be delighted to learn it has a rotary/touch input device, so you won’t have to relay on a touch screen.

It’s enormously engaging to drive – by some distance the most driver-focused EV we’ve yet driven. This is because BMW has not abandoned its impressive chassis engineering skills. The i4’s chassis is extremely sophisticated, with air suspension at the rear and a very low centre of gravity thanks to the low-mounted battery pack. It’s every inch a real BMW, which I guess is the statement BMW is making.

The iX is a different animal. It’s not a looker – again, it has a brutalist version of the kidney grille, applied to a rather humdrum SUV bodyshell. The good news is that it’s roomy – closer to X5 than X3 in terms of interior space, with a generous boot. Given the lack (until the arrival of i5, Mercedes EQE and others) of electric executive chauffeur cars, it’s not surprising to find a number of users considering adding the iX as a second-tier vehicle.

BMW iX xDrive 40

With the iX, the devil’s in the detail. The interior is very different. Where the i4 is traditional, the iX is a kind of future-retro, with wood and leather finishes but some highly modern switchgear – no internal door handles, for example – just push a small button on the door grab handle and it pops open.

Even the touch-sensitive buttons surrounding the clear Perspex rotary controller are incorporated into the wood-effect finish. The same widescreen satnav/dash is present as on the i4. It’s very crisp and clear.

The iX model range will comprise the BMW iX xDrive50 with a combined output of 523hp and a range of up to 380 miles (WLTP), plus the BMW iX xDrive40 that produces 326hp and is able to cover up to 257 miles on a single charge. A sporty iX M60, with an expected maximum output in excess of 600hp, will follow.

It’s not quite the same sparkling drive as the i4 – you wouldn’t expect an SUV to match a saloon – but it’s sure-footed and solid on the road, and not short of grunt - 0-62mph is 4.6sec on the xDrive 50 model and 6.1sec on the xDrive 40.

As with the i4, a Combined Charging Unit in the BMW iX allows DC power to be taken on board at a rate of up to 195kW (xDrive50) or 150kW (xDrive40), which allows the battery’s state of charge to be increased from 10% to 80% in just over half an hour. Enough juice for 90 miles (xDrive50) or 59 miles (xDrive40) can be delivered in just 10 minutes.

With both cars, BMW is offering buyers a BMW Charging card which offers discounted rates at both public and high-power charging stations. Additional ‘BP Pulse’ and ‘Ionity Plus’ packages are offered to iX customers with no subscription fee for the first 12 months, and offering large discounts on per-kW prices offered by the two networks.

Additional customisation of the car’s settings is available via a BMW app. These include personal settings for seat and steering wheel position, exterior mirrors, navigation system, driver assistance functions, display layouts, shortcuts, favourites and infotainment system settings.