2017 BMW i3 94Ah REVIEW | BMW’s Updated Compact EV Goes Further – Literally
BMW INTRODUCED ITS i DIVISION AS A WAY OF DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY - LOOKING AT ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS TO EVERYDAY MOBILITY.
The electrically powered i3 led the charge (if you’ll pardon the pun), providing useful driving range and packaging it in bodywork and carbon fibre construction that looked like nothing else on the road.
Now the electric hatch has been given a higher capacity battery, making it even more flexible - and that’s before adding the optional petrol powered Range Extender (REx) with an onboard generator that makes the i3 almost unstoppable and removes all traces of range anxiety.
Vehicle Style: Small hatch
Price: $65,900 - $71,900 (plus on-roads)
Engine/trans: 125kW/250Nm electric motor (plus 0.6 litre 2cyl petrol for i3 REx) | single-speed transmission
Fuel Economy Claimed: 0.0 l/100km, 12.9 kWh/100 km EV | 0.6 l/100km, 13.5 kWh/100 km REx
OVERVIEW
Though only 254 of the BMW i3 plug-in electric car have been sold here over two years, BMW has reaffirmed faith in the concept by adding two new variants to the range, effectively doubling the number of variants available in Australia.
As with the original version, the new additions comprise a purely electric model (EV) or a range extender (REx) which adds a two-cylinder petrol engine to top up the batteries in the run.
Dubbed the i3 94Ah, the name is modelled on the 94 Ampere-hour battery array, boosted from the previous 60 Ampere-hour battery of the original version which is still offered as a more affordable model.