With South African brands gearing up for a new age in motoring, it’s no surprise that BMW not only entered the chat but made a statement with their latest electric offerings bringing the manufacturer at the forefront of the offering.
You’d swear that BMW kept their ear to the ground and listened to consumers in that the i4 and iX3 have futuristic design traits but still retain the same look & feel of their petrol counterparts. The design details are subtle but notable with the grills being the biggest point next to those awesome.
BMW has officially launched the pure electric i4 and iX3 models alongside the iX, which has been available in our market since December 2021. The first units of the iX sold out very early on in 2022 and this confirmed that there is an interest in full electric vehicles in our country, given the cost of fuel and all. The i4, which is available in the i4 M50 model and the iX3 plan on filling a hunger gap in the market by offering pure electric vehicles with great features and the travel range to boost.
To be honest, the biggest topic when electric vehicles are mentioned, is the range. This topic even insights range anxiety as infrastructure rollout in the country is still a bit of a concern but the other side of the coin is that there is a valid interest in the vehicles and buyers are willing to jump on to them as early as possible. As a bonus, BMW has confirmed that buyers will also receive a charging unit that plugs in directly to their AC power and enabling them to charge the car in the comforts of their home – so, that’s one problem curbed.
A quick breakdown of the cars
The i4 M50, which many would recognize from the same styling as the 4 series, puts out a performance of 400kW at the wheels (intelligent all-wheel drive with BMW’s xDrive) which gives a range of about 510KM*, goes from 0-100km in just 3.9 seconds, has M Sport suspension, variable sport steering, M-sport brakes and is wrapped in BMW’s M Sport package on the outside – with the notable change in the car’s grill. A big bonus is that BMW also offers the car with BMW bike carrier for the car for both road and mountain bikes (just thought I would mention that for my fellow adventurers)
The iX3 is, of course, reminiscent of the X3, wrapped in the M Sport package as a standard feature and looks like it should be lined up in a drag strip (I’m reaching I know). The car looks beautiful, in the looks department coupled with a full electric engine that puts out 210kW @ 400nM of torque, with an estimated range of 460km*, goes from 0-100km 6.8 seconds and has a top speed of 180km/h. On the accessories side, we noticed that BMW also offers a rear bike rack for the car, which means that we could see a few of these on the trails or in The Cradle very soon.
Both cars have a charge time of 21 minutes for the i4 and 32 minutes for the iX3 on the DC charging units (think the charge stations available across various points); 1 hour & 36 minutes on the 11kW wallbox and about 8 hours from a standard/flexible fast charging cable(2.3kW) running from the household socket, so in a sense, you’ll just need the time to recharge the battery to capacity.
We really hope we will have these cars on test soon so we can have an in-depth look into them as well as put them through the challenge as we investigate the effectiveness of owning an electric car in South Africa. In hindsight, it is very comforting to know that BMW trusts our market with their electric ranges and we look to see more of them on our road, especially if they have such crazy ranges that cater to the explorer in us.
* The vehicle range is dependent on driver’s driving habit, so it may vary
Images supplied by BMW South Africa
