2024 BMW i5 eDrive40 Looks Eerily Sinister in Black, Flaunts Grown-Up Look

The 2024 BMW i5 eDrive40 is a rear-wheel-drive all-electric sedan that takes the brand's revamped DNA and puts it into a very different spotlight – a sustainable, zero-tailpipe emission, and silent one.

Knowing that the German marque was always known globally for its outrageously fun and cool M models, the i5 can feel like an outsider, like an experiment.

But the brand didn't just wake up and decide to make all-electric sedans or crossover SUVs. It has been its plan for quite some time. BMW has played around with electrification for a while now.

At first, the "i" division was an exclusive team of professionals tasked with keeping the ethos of the marque while advancing into the next stage of powertrain development.

They returned the i3 and i8, which were great vehicles and debuted a distinct interior and exterior design. Besides that, the powertrains also debuted a new era for BMW.

But competition is unforgiving, so rivals and regulations forced the brand's hand to accelerate electric vehicle development. The i5 is one of those latest offerings that seem to put the "i" division at the heart of the Bavarian auto company.

In the US, the zero-tailpipe emission sedan wearing the iconic blue and white logo has a starting cost of $66,800. That's $8,190 less than a Tesla Model S and a whopping $15,600 cheaper than the Lucid Air. However, the Model S and the Air are all-wheel-drive EVs, while the i5 has only one rear-axle motor.

Buying an all-wheel-drive BMW i5 is possible only when moving to an "M-lite" unit with an MSRP of $84,100. It puts out almost 600 hp, but the range is abysmal – around 250 miles on a single charge.

The dual-motor Model S goes 405 miles on a full battery, while the dual-motor Air Pure boasts a 410-mile range, per the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It doesn't look good for the electric Bimmer.

But if you live in an area where a rear-wheel-drive vehicle makes sense, then the i5 eDrive40 can be something to consider. Here are the EPA-rated range figures for this unit, depending on the wheel size:

• 19 inches – 295 miles;
• 20 inches – 278 miles;
• 21 inches – 270 miles.

Remember that these official figures can vary wildly in a real-life scenario. The EPA runs the range tests in a lab and establishes the range by going from 100 to 0% state of charge repeatedly.

That's something 99.9% of the owners will never do because it brings range anxiety and can cause battery (nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry (NMC)) problems in the long run. These energy storage units are less durable than lithium iron phosphate (LFP) ones.

But it's hard to ignore a good-looking sedan made by an established luxury carmaker. This particular model, finished in black, looks menacing but also elegant. Still, there's something about the headlights that doesn't feel right.

BMW used to offer entry-level headlamps and swankier versions with laser and adaptive beams. These look like the cheaper ones, sadly.

But maybe for new customers, it won't matter. Just like the absence of a frunk and the massive yet completely useless redesigned kidney grille slapped on the front will not.