It?s fair to say that BMW?s i range has, until now, been more a pair of distantly related cousins than it has been a close-knit automotive family. The i3 and i8 are both fascinating vehicles, but being an electric city car and a hybrid sports car, they have left what could be described as a chasm-sized gap in the middle of the range.
Which is where the BMW i5 will come in, as a car capable of appealing to those who want to travel longer distances and carry more stuff under electric power. Details are still being kept under tight guard, but an interview with i?s head of product, Henrik Wenders, has shed some light on what we can expect.
First, and most significant, we have confirmation that BMW will offer a range-extending internal-combustion engine as an option, meaning that the i5 will be an electric vehicle rather than, as some reports have previously suggested, a hybrid. ?The range extender plays an important part in the next years when range remains a limiting factor and a source of anxiety,? Wenders told us when we spoke to him. ?Of course once we get to a range that is more comparable with that of an internal-combustion engine it will become obsolete. So this is the reason I can say we will continue to offer the range-extender in the future as optional equipment, to address different customer needs.? Apparently the i3?s optional engine (we tested this version of the car roughly 18 month ago) has tended to be little more than a comfort blanket. ?At the beginning o...