BMW Is About To Start Selling One Of The Longest-Range EVs In America

It’s hard not to have a bit of a soft spot for the original BMW i3. Its quirky hatchback design, cutting-edge carbon fiber monocoque, and way-ahead-of-its-time range-extender EV powertrain were so appealing to our own David Tracy that he bought one. And he loved that car so much that he bought another one, which he still owns.

BMW killed off the lovable i3 hatch in 2022, and ever since, we’ve been hoping BMW would offer some kind of replacement. Sadly, nothing from the brand emerged … until now … kinda.

Today, the German luxury carmaker has finally announced the i3’s return. But it’s not a hatchback with funky looks and a space-age chassis construction. And, more importantly, it doesn’t have any kind of available range-extender tech. Instead, it’s a sedan that’ll be sold purely as an EV, adopting the company’s “Neue Klasse” design scheme first seen on the iX3 launched back in September. It uses that car’s underpinnings too, and because of that, it has a whole lot of range.

Going The Distance

BMW’s New Class architecture isn’t just a new design approach—it’s new underneath, too. The underfloor battery powertrain uses an 800-volt architecture, which unlocks more efficient, faster charging. BMW estimates it can DC fast-charge at up to 400 kW, while the company’s “Gen6” cylindrical cells can squeeze out 30 percent more range than before.

Spec-wise, the i3 50 xDrive, the launch trim, is mechanically identical to its iX3 sibling. There are two electric motors, one at the front and another at the rear. Combined, they make the same 463 horsepower and 476 pound-feet of torque. BMW doesn’t list a battery size, but considering output is unchanged, it’s likely that the i3 is getting the same 112.2-kWh battery pack.

Because the i3 is a smaller, lighter car, BMW says it can get an estimated 440 miles of range out of its battery pack, going by EPA cycle testing. That’s 10% more range than the iX3. Should the i3 score that well in official EPA estimates, that range would make it the 5th-highest-range EV on sale in America right now. If you exclude all the heavy electric SUVs and their gigantic battery packs, the i3 would be second only to the Lucid Air Grand Touring, which still leads the segment at 512 miles of range.

A lot of that has to do with the big pack. As far as efficiency goes, the i3 works out to around 3.9 miles per kWh, or a tiny bit less efficient than the new Chevy Bolt. The Lucid Air Pure, the cheapest version of the Air you can buy, still has the industry beat by a long shot, with its 5.0 miles per kWh (it’s able to get 420 miles out of just 84 kWh). Still, 440 miles is damn impressive, and could end up as a big selling point for customers who can’t get rid of their range anxiety.

BMW’s New Face, On A Sedan

When the iX3 dropped in September, Autopian commenters had mixed opinions. Some of you liked it, and some of you didn’t like it. However you felt about that car, you’ll likely feel the same way about this one. The fascias aren’t exactly the same; the i3 is missing the two small vertically shaped grilles found on the iX3, with a more streamlined set that incorporates the headlights on either end. The grille has its own illuminated outline, while the black portions of the panels hide front-facing sensors.

Proportionally, the i3 is classic 3-box sedan-shaped (BMW calls it “a 2.5-box design” on account of its short rear overhang). In the rear, you’ll find a set of thin, long, horizontally positioned taillights that stretch to the center of the trunklid, and flare out as they reach the rear bumper area. Unsurprisingly, the car looks a lot like the Vision Neue Klasse concept shown over two years ago, down to the general greenhouse shape.

I always try to reserve judgment until I see cars in person, but personally, first impressions are good. BMW’s done a good job incorporating the black portions of the side sills to hide the extra height added by the batteries, and the flared fenders do a good job of making the i3 feel at least a little bit sporty. The front end, with its furled eyebrow-like upper bumper and hood section, isn’t exactly beautiful, but it’s certainly interesting. And in a world where designers are constantly restricted by crash safety and aerodynamics, “interesting” is often the most you can hope for.

The Weirdest Parts Are Inside

As jarring as the exterior design can be for some, the interior is an even larger evolution. Gone is the instrument cluster, replaced by a gigantic head-up display that spans the entire lower portion of the windshield. Called “Panoramic Vision,” it’s a full-color screen that shows the things you’d normally see in a gauge cluster, like speed, turn signals, transmission position, and speed limit.

For everything else, there’s the rhombus-shaped infotainment screen in the center of the dash. It measures 17.9 inches and contains most of the controls you care about, including all of the controls for the HVAC system, which are permanent fixtures at the bottom portion of the screen. Thankfully, stuff like the volume scroll knob, parking brake, hazard lights, and defrost buttons are still physical and located forward of the center console.

There are also buttons on the steering wheel, which borrows its fascinating vertical two-spoke design from the iX3. There are some generous moldings for where to put your thumbs, too, and a handful of glossy metal accents embedded throughout. If you like a clean, simple, circular three-spoke design, this is the opposite of that.

If there’s one thing that connects the new i3 to the original, it’s the size of the front trunk. The original i3, infamously, has an absolutely tiny trunk that wasn’t even sealed from the elements. While the new i3’s frunk looks like it does have a weather seal, it doesn’t look like it’s measurably increased in size, despite the car’s length growing by nearly 30 inches.

BMW has yet to release pricing for the iX3 and the i3 sedan, though the crossover is expected to start at around $60,000, so I have to imagine the i3 will be priced similarly because, again, they’re mostly the same car underneath.

Am I totally off-base here? The internet hated how the current M3 and M4 look, yet those cars still fly off the lots as soon as they arrive. Something tells me it might be the same with these cars, especially considering these range numbers. Let me know in the comments.

Top graphic image: BMW