Battery size: 80 kWh
Miles per kWh: 4.53
E-Rating™: A++
Max charge rate: 200 kW
Range: 316-367 miles (WLTP)
Range
With just one battery option on offer, things are kept nice and simple here. On the WLTP test cycle – the one that benchmarks all new cars in Europe, and which is more realistic than any tests that went before it – the i4 eDrive40, the model you’re likely to get as a company car, will achieve between 347 and 365 miles on a full charge. The sportier i4 M50 – the one to ween petrolheads from their turbocharged BMW M cars – claims between 258 and 318 miles. Expect much closer to the former if you plan to explore its prodigious performance…
Battery
For now, UK buyers get the choice of just one battery in their BMW i4. Both eDrive40 and M50 power outputs hook up to the same 80.7kWh battery. That puts it at the top end of the batteries currently appearing in premium saloons and SUVs, making it good for those chunky range figures, which mimic how far a tank of petrol might get you in an upper end 3-Series or the mighty BMW M3.
Charging
Charging times are pretty strong, too. Filling up to 100 per cent will be an overnight job on a typical 7kW wall box – somewhere between 12 and 13 hours is likely – but plugged into faster public chargers, things are much swifter. Find an ultra-fast charger and you’ll get to 80 per cent in around half an hour, which is a typical motorway stop if you’re also sneaking in a flat white and sausage roll. On a 50kW charger you’ll reach 80 per cent in 70 minutes. More like a sit-down sandwich and a nice big latte, then.
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