The new, all-electric BMW i3 and i3s will be offered with a larger battery cell capacity and an increased range. Doubling in size, the new battery on the electric i3 and i3s now has a capacity of 120Ah and a gross energy content of 42.2kWh.
Designed and developed independently by the BMW Group as an integral part of the car maker’s eDrive technology, the batteries within the i3 and i3s are installed deep in the floor.
The high-performance lithium-ion cells are combined with a cooling system that constantly keeps the battery at optimum operating temperature, thus increasing output and service life. The latest range of high-voltage batteries on the new BMW i3 and i3s have increased in capacity without any increase in size.
These advances enable the i3 and i3s to achieve an increased all-electric range. The official range of the BMW i3 is 223 miles (359km) according to NEDC [previously 180-186 miles (290-299km)]. For the BMW i3s, this produces a range of 214 miles (344km) according to NEDC (previously 174 miles (280km)).
The combined power consumption of the BMW i3 is 13.1kWh per 62 miles (100km), while the BMW i3s has a power consumption of 14.6kWh per 62 miles (100km).
Using rapid-charging stations that run on DC power, the vehicle charging capacity is 50kW, with the high-voltage battery able to reach 80% of its total power in just 42 minutes.
Charging via the BMW i Wallbox enables fast charging with a capacity of 7.4 kW. Here the time required to achieve an 80% charge of the battery is 4.9 hours.
The standard charging cable, which is designed to be plugged into a conventional household socket, can be used to charge a BMW i3 to up to 80% of its full power in approximately 15 hours with a charging capacity of 2.3 kW.
Further development of BMW’s eDrive technology has improved the performance of both BMW i3 and i3s. The BMW i3, powered by a 172ps electric motor, completes the 0-100km/h benchmark in 7.3 seconds, while the BMW i3s with 187ps power completes the standard sprint in 6.9 seconds. The i3 and i3s accelerate from 50-75mph (80-120km/h) in 5.1 and 4.3 seconds respectively.
The updated i3 and i3s will go on sale from December 2018.
