China Will See An Electric BMW i3 Revival
While Americans have a high interest in the all-electric BMW i3, it will only currently be offered in China.
Written by Serena Aburahma
Reviewed by Kathleen Flear
BMW
brought back the i3 but completely remade its look, taking it from a hatchback to a sedan and adding a little more than four inches of length to its wheelbase.In this article,
Jerry
looks at how the automaker enhanced the luxury appeal of the vehicle, but BMW owners must wait and see if it improved its reliability and how it matches its siblings in speed.BMW introduces re-vamped i3 in China
According to
Car & Driver
, you'll only find the new BMW i3 eDrive35L in China where it goes on sale in May, but it bears some consideration as the latest electric vehicle from the automaker. Its transformation increased its horsepower to 282 and it now generates 295 pound-feet of torque.
The i3 build changed as well, adding 4.3 inches to the wheelbase. It kept some of the concept-car styling and its carbon-fiber-reinforced-plastic structure but switched the BMW to i3 to an i4-like powertrain and rear-wheel-drive.
If the car does come to the U.S., look for it to carry an "L" at the end of its name, which signifies its longer wheelbase. BMW designed the vehicle for chauffeurs to drive their passengers while providing maximum comfort.
To create the vehicles, BMW opened a new factory in Shenyang in partnership with Brilliance Auto, an automaker in China. Brilliance Auto also manufactures ZINORO automobiles, a line of electric vehicles available in China.
The busy plant manufactured more than 700,000 vehicles in 2021 for both BMW and ZINORO.
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BMW i3 improved range and speed
BMW grew the battery size since it introduced the vehicle originally in 2014 and it now comes with a 66.1-kWh battery that offers a range of 327 miles.
According to the automaker, the i3 offers quick charging, so you don't have to stop your road trip for the day to recharge the battery. You can recharge it while you eat lunch since the mid-sized battery goes from 10 percent charge to an 80 percent charge in 35 minutes.
While the BMW i3 doesn't poke along, its acceleration and punchiness differ from a gas-fueled vehicle. It requires about twice the time of a gas-powered vehicle to go from 0 to 60.
Although not as fast at achieving its 0 to 60 acceleration as the BMW M8 Competition’s 3.3 seconds, the i3 manages the 0 to 60 in 6.2 seconds, says Car & Driver, but actual road tests by
Rallye BMW
showed a 0 to 60 time of 7.2 seconds.MORE: Jeff Koons Turned This BMW Into a Work of Art
Could BMW i3 be introduced in the U.S.?
Currently, the Bavarian automaker only has plans to release the i3 in China and the i4 in the U.S.
Car & Driver conducted a poll to gauge interest in the vehicle in which 79 percent of respondents said BMW should introduce the vehicle in the U.S., while the remainder said the i4 fills the electric car need.
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