We are driving a BMW i4 eDrive40, what do you want to know?

Fully electric BMW i4 may be based on the 4-Series Combustion Gran Coupe, but it has many prospects and we will be spending a week with it soon.

Two i4 variants have been introduced to the Australian market. The model we run is an entry-level eDrive40 complete with the M Sport package, and while it doesn’t offer a speed that competes with the M3 like the i40 M50, it should offer great performance.

Behind the wheel of the i4 eDrive40 is a single electric motor that drives the rear wheels and produces 250 kW (335 hp) and 317 pound-feet (470 Nm) of torque. This is a healthy amount of power given that the base model is not all-wheel drive like the flagship Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6, which have two electric motors and a maximum of 225 kW (302 hp) and 605 Nm (446 lb-ft).

BMW says the eDrive40 accelerates to 100 km / h (62 mph) in 5.7 seconds and thanks to a large 84 kW / h rechargeable battery has a range of 520 km (323 mph) in the combined cycle according to Australian testing parameters.

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A lot of other things make the entry-level BMW i4 quite promising. For example, it is capable of charging with a power of 200 kW, and in Australia it comes with a 5-year membership of Chargefox, which offers free unlimited use of public charging stations Fast and Ultra Rapid. The 19-inch M alloy wheels, the M High-gloss Shadow Line kit and the M Aerodynamics package make an external impression.

The interior of the i4 is very similar to the 4-Series Gran Coupe, although it has some unique features, the most notable of which is the curved display, which includes a 12.3-inch digital dashboard and a 14.0-inch infotainment display, which is’ appeared this week in an updated 3-series and Update model year M3 too.

As mentioned, we will be spending a week with the i4 eDrive40, so we will have plenty of time to test it in a variety of settings. If there’s anything you’d like to know about EV, let us know in the comments.

Photo: BMW