By Otsile Kadiege 

Today BMW South Africa will be expanding its local electric model line up with the addition of the hotly anticipated fully-electric i4 M50 and iX3. We’ve already covered both the BMW i4 and iX3 in detail, however here’s a summary of both vehicles.

Exterior styling

Styling wise both the i4 M50 and iX3 are distinguishable from its internal combustion engine (ICE) derivatives with blue accents all-round the vehicles, enclosed kidney grilles and the deletion of exhaust trims, model-specific wheels. 

With the Carbon exterior package the i4 M50 drops the blue trims for black accents, carbon fiber air-inlets, mirror caps, rear spoiler, model specific M light-alloy wheels and M badges. 

i4 M50 performance 

The high-performance i4 M50 produces a whooping 400 kW and 795 Nm. Power is sent to all four wheels allowing it reach 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds. It has a limited top speed of 225 km/h and 510 km range. The i4 M50 takes a mere 31 minutes to charge from 10 – 80% at a 210 kW DC fast-charging station.

Newly designed chassis technology attuned precisely to the vehicle concept uses a double-joint spring strut front axle and five-link rear axle. As standard, the i4 is fitted with lift-related dampers and rear-axle air suspension. Near-actuator wheel slip limitation (also teamed for the first time with electric all-wheel drive) delivers outstanding traction and directional stability in extremely dynamic driving manoeuvres. BMW i4 M50 also features model-specific adaptive M suspension, variable sport steering and M Sport braking system. The i4 sits 53mm lower than the BMW 3 Series sedan.

iX3 performance

Powering the rear-wheel drive only iX3 is BMW’s newly developed fifth generation eDrive electric motor. It produces 210 kW of power, 400 Nm of torque and takes 6.8 seconds to reach 100 km/h. With range preservation in mind, the iX3’s top speed is limited to 180 km/h.

The iX3 has an 80-kWh battery pack (74 kWh is usable) which translate to a WLTP range of 460 km. It has a charging capacity of up to 150-kW at DC fast charging stations which will charge the battery from 0 – 80 percent in 34 minutes. Charging for 10 minutes translates to 100 km.

Pricing

Pricing for the BMW iX3 starts at R1,290,000 and R1,600,000 for the i4 M50.