BMW NZ to offer battery-only i3

BMW New Zealand appears to have aimed its crosshairs straight at the Renault Zoe with the confirmation of pricing on the battery-only version of the BMW i3 – with big upgrades to the model as well, including a bigger battery and fast-charging.

The car will be offered in pure electric form from the second half of this year at $74,300, alongside an upgraded range-extender model for $85,300.

That battery only price puts it within a few hundred dollars of the Renault Zoe, launched here last month.

Both new BMW i3s feature a significant uplift in range, thanks to a larger-capacity lithium-ion battery pack. An increase from 60Ah to 94Ah has been realised, enabling the pure-electric i3 to increase range from 190km to 300km, according to the European NEDC standard.

BMW admits real world range, for example when driving in inclement weather with the audio and air-conditioning systems running, offers around 200km from a single electric charge.

The battery-only i3 has the same 125kW rear-mounted engine as its brother, but is lighter – making it quicker. It can run the 0-100km/h sprint in 7.3 seconds, against 8.1 seconds in the Range Extender variant.

Electricity consumption is 12.6kWh/100km (NEDC), BMW claiming the i3 as the most efficient electric vehicle in its segment.

All cars are now DC-fast charge capable. The charging connection on both BMW i3 variants are of the Type 1 (SAE J1772) standard, and DC charging is achieved through the same connector port utilising the Combined Charging System (CCS) standard.

“The increased-range i3 variants continue the rapid momentum generated by the recent BMW iPerformance vehicle roll-out,” says BMW Group New Zealand managing director Florian Renndorfer.

“BMW is leading the market with an unmatched range of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, and the addition of the pure electric i3 model further demonstrates our commitment to sustainability,” he adds.