BMW i3 is the longest-range electrical automobile on the planet: New £50k saloon can go 559 miles on a full cost

There will soon be an electric family car in showrooms that can be driven the entire length of England without needing to stop to charge.

BMW’s new i3 – the battery-powered version of its evergreen 3 Series saloon – has been unveiled with headline-grabbing claims, the biggest of which is a 559-mile range on a full battery.

While it’s the smallest model in the German car giant’s electric line-up, it is capable of the longest distances of any EV on the planet.

The i3 is the second ‘Neue Klasse’ electric model, following in the tyre tracks of the 500-mile-range iX3 SUV with which it shares an 800V platform, meaning incredible performance as well as rapid charging times.

It will blow existing electric rivals – like the Tesla Model 3 and Polestar 3 – out of the water and is expected to gazump the range of the forthcoming 435-mile C-Class EQ from biggest rival, Mercedes-Benz.

Bosses say it will ‘build on BMW’s legacy while taking a technological quantum leap into a new era’. 

And the company has hinted that prices could start from around £50,000, claiming it will have near parity with the combustion engined 3 Series, which will remain on sale with updated styling to match the i3. 

The i3 will debut in 50 xDrive trim later this year, though other variants will follow.

At its heart is the same 108kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery used in the iX3.

But thanks to its more rakish saloon shape, smaller footprint and reduced weight, the i3 betters its SUV sibling’s full-charge range by 59 miles.

As such, it overtakes the Volvo EX60 – which is yet to arrive in UK dealers – as the longest-range EV sold in the UK.

This means buyers – theoretically – will be able to drive the 523-mile trek from the most southerly tip of England in Land’s End to the Scottish border and still have 76 miles of range to spare.  

But the Beemer’s impressive electric range isn’t solely down to a more svelte silhouette.

With the sizable battery pack located in the car’s chassis, ultimately pushing the cabin floor higher, engineers have managed to keep its roofline as low as possible [under 1.5 metres] by bolting the front seats directly into the battery unit.

Securing the battery in a completely enclosed floor has also increased airflow passing beneath the car at speed, making this executive saloon aerodynamically extremely slippery. 

Adopting the 800V architecture from the iX3 means when the range is depleted, building it back up again is a relatively rapid process.

Accepting DC charging speeds of 400kW, owners will be able to add 249 miles of range to the battery in a 10-minute charging session.

This will put BMW leagues ahead of established rivals, bettering even the Chinese Denza Z9GT – a new luxurious Porsche Taycan rival that has a 497-mile range but can charge from 10 to 70 per cent battery capacity in as little as five minutes using one of parent company BYD’s Flash Chargers.

The BMW will be no slouch either, with the pair of electric motors – one at each axle – delivering a combined 436bhp.

It too will have vastly different handling characteristics to the bigger iX3, despite sharing its 50:50 weight distribution front-to-rear.

Softer suspension springs and stiffer anti-roll bars should ensure it is both comfortable for long journeys but agile enough to navigate a challenging B-road with precision and very little body roll.

At 4.76 metres long and 1.87 metres wide, the i3 is an all-round bigger car than the current petrol 3 Series.

However, it shares its conventional saloon proportions, including a long body and short overhangs.

As such, the 3 Series will receive a thorough facelift to mirror the bold looks of the i3, with it too embracing the screen-focused dashboard and many of the gadgets and assistance features available in its electrified sister car.

But BMW won’t stop there.

As per tradition, the i3 will have a Touring estate variant at a later date, and it will also spawn an iM3 performance derivative, which is pencilled for a 2028 debut and could have an electric motor per wheel and put out over 1,000bhp.

The i3’s cockpit is dominated by a 17.9-inch touchscreen interface that makes up a new ‘Panoramic iDrive’ display that essentially deletes a conventional driver’s instrument cluster.

Instead, there’s a 43.3-inch digital panel stretching across the top of the dashboard that shows key information typically shown on clocks behind the steering wheel – this includes speed, range, state of charge, remaining distance to a destination as well as ambient temperature and live weather forecast.

The angled infotainment screen is entirely controlled by touch, with BMW ditching it’s long-running i-Drive spin-wheel controller, which had been a big favourite among the driving community for years for its simple operation and low distraction risk.

But technicians at the German outfit have promised logical functionality, with often-used features – like temperature changes and deactivating irritating driver assist alerts – easy to access.

Key functions – like the window demisters, volume controls and hazard warning light button – are all clustered in physical buttons by the drive selector.

A host of other controls – including activating the voice-operated AI assistant – are arranged on the steering wheel, which is also a new design and for the first time in BMW’s history has a cross-like four-spoke shape.

Some of these buttons are haptic control, meaning they can be adjusted without touch – a controversial move given Volkswagen has shifted away from such features over complaints that the controls are difficult to use with any accuracy. 

The i3 will be built at BMW’s biggest plant in Munich. 

While prices are yet to be confirmed for any market, bosses say it should cost around the same price as a hybrid-powered 3 Series, which currently starts from £47,185.