BMW has not been as quick with its electric launches as its German rivals, especially in India. Now however, after the iX electric SUV and the Mini electric, BMW is finally adding another EV to its Indian portfolio, having confirmed the launch of the BMW i4 sedan on May 26. Here’s a rundown of the great, good and okay of the latest electric Beemer.
The BMW i4 shares its platform with the 3-series, and so shares a lot of styling cues with its brethren. The headlights, taillights and overall shape are unchanged, while the only changes that make the ‘electric’ in this car obvious lie in the details. The i4 has several blue accents strewn about its body, along with a closed-off grill and aerodynamically styled wheels. The bumpers are slightly tweaked, both in an attempt to reduce aerodynamic drag as well as set it apart from the ICE sibling. The ‘hockey stick’ motif on the lower half of the doors remains, as do the flush door handles.
The biggest criticism that the i4 has received is the lack of optimisation specifically for electric cars that makes them so great. It is essentially an ICE platform, and so you have to make do with the same ICE quirks, such as a transmission tunnel in the footwell, which means no flat floor. Interior space is similar to the 3-series, which is dominated by the twin screens in the centre console. The infotainment system has a 14.6-inch touchscreen while the instrument cluster is a 12.3-inch display. The boot space is helped by the fact that the BMW i4 is in fact a notchback, with a powered tailgate that opens up the rear windows as well.
The most radical change in the i4 comes in the form of the powertrain. There are two variants of the electric sedan available, with the first, the eDrive40, being the sensible, usable and ‘EV’ usage option. Its single-motor rear-wheel-drive setup produces 335bhp and 430Nm of torque, along with a claimed range from BMW of 485kms. This range would make it one of the most efficient EVs currently on sale in India.
But we are interested in the enthusiast variant. The BMW i4 M50 is the first electric M car, and so requires our immediate attention. Producing 533bhp and 795Nm of torque from a dual-motor AWD xDrive system, the M50 seems properly fun on paper. BMW even claims a range of 435kms, which is not bad considering the sedan is built on a platform originally not intended to host an electric powertrain.
The BMW i4 will come to India on May 26, and although it does not currently have a clear rival in the country, the top-spec M50 variant will rival the Audi e-Tron GT as well as the Porsche Taycan. We wait with bated breath to see if the BMW i4 can live up to these claims.