At the company’s annual press conference overnight, BMW teased the pure electric variant of its upcoming 5 Series sedan. Like other EVs in its range, the electric 5 Series will be known as the i5.
The new 5 Series sedan, codenamed G60, and likely the i5 too, will be launched in October 2023. This i5 sedan will be joined by a wagon — Touring in BMW-speak — version in 2024.
When the i5 Touring launches, it will enter the sparsely populated wagon segment of the ever-growing EV market. At present the only other entrant from Western brand is the Porsche Taycan wagon, which is available in both regular Sport Turismo and the lifted Outback-style Cross Turismo variants.
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BMW i5 Touring -
Although the Taycan wagon and new i5 Touring should be around the same length, the BMW should be more spacious given its more upright tailgate and taller body.
The regular 5 Series, i5 sedan, and i5 wagon have been spied undergoing testing.
Oliver Zipse, BMW’s CEO, said today, the i5 will include “a fully electric Performance model from BMW M GmbH”. He noted the i4 M50 was the M division’s best selling model in 2022.
The i4 M50 has a two-motor all-wheel drive setup with a total of 400kW and 795Nm. The i4 M50 is capable of a 0-100km/h time of 3.9 seconds, making it faster than the standard rear-wheel drive M3 (4.2 seconds), line ball with 375kW/650Nm M3 Competition (3.9 seconds), but slower than the all-wheel M3 Competition (3.5 seconds).
By comparison, the 250kW/430Nm i4 eDrive40 and the 209kW/400Nm i4 eDrive35 both have a single motor driving the rear wheels.
As with the i4 “four-door coupe”, and i7 sedan, the i5 will ride on the CLAR architecture that supports petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid, and fully electric drivetrains.
If BMW’s latest round of electric vehicles are anything to go by, visual differences between 5 Series models with internal combustion engines (ICE) and the i5 EV will be limited to the grille, wheels, badging, and, possibly, bumpers.
MORE: Everything BMW 5 Series
