Photo: BMW
As Tesla Motors continues to develop autonomous driving technologies, an increasing number of manufacturers are committing to improving their EVs regarding range. One of those companies is BMW, which is rumored to bring forth the facelift version of the i3 sometime in 2017 for the 2018 model year.
According to a report published by Welt am Sonntag, a “basic overhaul” of the i3 will come to fruition in 2017 in response to “persistent criticism” of the electric vehicle’s appearance and range. The German weekly also outlines the extent of the not-yet-confirmed BMW i3 LCI from a visual vantage point.
In this regard, the 2018 BMW i3 will boast reworked front and rear fascias, which will freshen up the compact-sized EV’s appearance in the eye of the beholder. Although Welt am Sonntag didn’t mention anything about it, it’s only natural to hypothesize that an interior overhaul is in the cards as well.
More importantly, the Life Cycle Impulse of the i3 is expected to surpass the 2017 model year i3’s range thanks to a bigger battery. The German weekly expects capacity to grow by less than 50 percent over the current pack. As a brief refresher, the most the pre-facelift i3 EV has to offer from its 33 kWh pack is an EPA-rated 114 miles or 300 kilometers as per the New European Driving Cycle. Provided that we meet halfway at 25%, this level of battery capacity increase would loosely translate to 142.5 miles or 375 kilometers.
Member of the board of management of BMW, Klaus Frohlich, let it slip that the i3 will be available with “different ranges” in the long run, which is a tell-tale sign that the Bavarian brand is pushing forward with bettering the urban-oriented electric vehicle. It's not clear if different battery options will be made available for the i3 LCI or the second-gen model, but letting the consumer make the choice is the right way to go if BMW wants to move forward.
In this regard, the 2018 BMW i3 will boast reworked front and rear fascias, which will freshen up the compact-sized EV’s appearance in the eye of the beholder. Although Welt am Sonntag didn’t mention anything about it, it’s only natural to hypothesize that an interior overhaul is in the cards as well.
More importantly, the Life Cycle Impulse of the i3 is expected to surpass the 2017 model year i3’s range thanks to a bigger battery. The German weekly expects capacity to grow by less than 50 percent over the current pack. As a brief refresher, the most the pre-facelift i3 EV has to offer from its 33 kWh pack is an EPA-rated 114 miles or 300 kilometers as per the New European Driving Cycle. Provided that we meet halfway at 25%, this level of battery capacity increase would loosely translate to 142.5 miles or 375 kilometers.
Member of the board of management of BMW, Klaus Frohlich, let it slip that the i3 will be available with “different ranges” in the long run, which is a tell-tale sign that the Bavarian brand is pushing forward with bettering the urban-oriented electric vehicle. It's not clear if different battery options will be made available for the i3 LCI or the second-gen model, but letting the consumer make the choice is the right way to go if BMW wants to move forward.
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