BMW i3 EV gets HUGE increase in range – now up to 195 miles

The BMW i3 – BMW’s electric city car – has been given new batteries which increase its official range to 195 miles – double what was available.

The BMW i3 is BMW’s take on the electric city car, and it has plenty going for it. But the range isn’t huge at around 80-100 miles (and much less in the real world) so range anxiety is still a big drawback for potential buyers.

But BMW now has an answer to range anxiety in the i3 BEV (you can of course get the i3 as a range extender too) with a set of new batteries with greater density and an official range of 195 miles – around twice what has been available until now.

The new 94Ah battery replaces the current 60Ah and has a capacity of 33kWh thanks to higher density, which is good news for buyers of the i3 from this summer on, but not so good for existing i3 owners – BMW say there will be no upgrade route for the new, more powerful battery pack.

Performance from the i3 remains the same despite the new, more powerful, batteries, but at 7.3 seconds to 62mph it’s already more than adequate, and actually feels quicker thanks to its instant torque, and the new batteries are also arriving in the range extender version of the i3, where range increases to 275 miles.

Other upgrades include DC charging as standard, a new Atelier trim as standard for the interior – with a ‘Suite’ option – and the arrival of the Protonic Blue with Frozen Grey paint job, previously the preserve of the i8.

The new range-improved BMW i3 will be available from July, with the i3 BEV starting at £32,330 (£27,830 after OLEV grant) and the i3 Range Extender at £35,480 (£30,980 after grant).