While we’re all taking in the might of the BMW X7 unveiled today, the Germans are still looking towards the future and working on the BMW i4 in the meantime. The electric car is shaping out to be one of the most important cars for the Bavarian brand in the next decade, as it is bound to get the blue and white roundel from the present and propel it into the future. Alas, what do we actually know about it?
Earlier this week one of our sources told us the proposed names for the car which offered some insight into what might be powering them. Now we received more info about the i4 and it seems like BMW will be following in the footsteps of other manufacturers and offer a choice of configurations for the car, mainly based on the number of motors you want. To be more precise, the i4 will be offered with a choice of one motor or two of them.
There will be the 80 sDrive model, which will have an 80 kWh battery pack and a single electric motor powering the rear axle. The 80 xDrive model will have a similarly sized battery pack with two electric motors, one for each axle. These are the first models to be offered in the BMW i4 range but others might follow later on, either with batteries which can store more energy (similar size, higher energy density as it is the case on the i3) or with more than two motors, for better performance.
At the moment, information is scarce but we do know that the i4 will be using a fifth-generation eDrive powertrain, the most advanced BMW will have at the time of launch. That means the 80 kWh battery pack should allow it to cover anything between 340 and 435 miles which should prove to be enough for most customers.
