BMW i3 powertrain to be revised to 200 km on full-electric range

Kuala Lumpur: The German automaker BMW is all primed to revise the range of its highly appreciated electric vehicle BMW i3. The car is said to get an updated battery that will increase its driving range from the current 160 km maximum (without the Range Extender) to 200 km.

Sources from Autocar reported that the German car maker will be introducing an “optimised driveline” technology that will increase the battery efficiency in its i3 model in the line-up from the BMW i sub-brand.

According to the report, the car will be replaced with an existing 22 kWh lithium-ion traction battery with a new one that shares the same 22 kWh capacity, but it will feature a higher power density that will give it a longer pure-electric range.

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The BMW i3 is currently coming with an EV range of 130 km to 160 km rest depends upon the usage of the car. However, the car also comes with an optional “Range Extender” that includes a 34 hp, 650 cc, two-cylinder petrol engine acting as a generator to charge the batteries on the fly. This optional update brings out the most of the BMW i3 enhancing the maximum range of the car from160 km to nearly 260 km.

But now the new traction battery provided by BMW along with the Range Extender will give i3 a whopping driving range of 300 km. Apart from the battery the car will also receive an update over the electronic systems including a whole new software mapping for the cooling systems of the battery and electric motor.

The BMW i3 made its global debut in 2013 featuring an electric motor that offers 170 hp and 250 Nm. This car owing to its electric motor generating instant torque perform a century sprint in merely 7.2 seconds with a top speed of 150 km/h. However, the Range Extender option variant limits this acceleration to 7.9 seconds.

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Earlier BMW Malaysia announced that the company has no plans to launch EV vehicle in Malaysia, but the car appeared on a grey-imported unit listed for local sale at RM488,000.