Concept Version Starts To Look More Like ICE Brethren
BMW has a new all-electric vehicle coming, and it’s a small crossover called the iX3. It debuted as a concept car at the April 2018 Beijing Auto Show.
Recent spy shots of the apparently near-production BMW iX3 show camouflaged bumpers and front end, but it looks familiar—and less dramatic than the concept. Presumably under the camo lives a smoother, more wind-cheating shape. Aerodynamic wheels will be fitted.
The iX3 is the first i-series car to be a version of an existing model, in this case, the X3. As the first of 11 all-electric BMWs coming in the next few years, it will be easy-to-assemble alongside non-electrics rather than being a totally separate model, like the i3.
Preliminary Specs
Preliminary specs for the fifth-generation eDrive technology include a motor putting out 270 horsepower (200 kW) and a 70-kWh battery. Thanks to 150 kW fast-charging, you should be able to fill an empty battery in 30 minutes—plenty of time to do it during lunch. The car is expected to have a 249-mile range, based on the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) used in Europe.
The new drivetrain boasts a denser, more powerful battery as well as a motor that uses no rare earth materials.
The iX3 will be built at BMW’s Shengyang plant in China and is expected to arrive in the U.S. in 2020 (although that was before all of the recent tariff spats). By then, it’ll have plenty of company: The Jaguar I-Pace, Audi E-tron Quattro, and Mercedes-Benz EQC.
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