According to the latest news, the new BMW i4 eDrive40 and i4 M50 will hit the sales in early 2022. Back in March this year, BMW revealed a few preliminary photos and details about its all-electric i4. Last Tuesday, the company opened the floodgates with full US specs including
The i4 has been scheduled to hit sales in the US in the first quarter of 2022. The car looks a lot like the concept and doesn’t go too far from the gas-powered 4 Series range. Analysts believe that this is intentional because the i4’s four-door liftback body will also be used for the upcoming 4 Series Gran Coupe.
Perhaps the biggest difference between i4 and other 4 Series models is iDrive 8. Apart from bringing a handful of upgrades, the infotainment technology comes with 5G connectivity. It is housed on the new BMW Curved Display. The car has a 14.9 inches infotainment screen and a 12.3 inches digital gauge cluster. Anti-reflective glass is used which means the screens won’t wash out in sunlight. Not that the i4 comes standard with a panoramic sunroof.
In the US, BMW will sell two i4 variants: eDrive40 and M50. Both the models come with a self-leveling rear air suspension. As far as design is concerned, the M50 is visually distinguished due to its heavily sculpted front and rear fascias.
The i4 eDrive40 comes with 18 inches wheels while the M50 comes with 19 inches wheels. Both the cars come with a battery pack of the 83.9-kilowatt hour of which 81.5 kWh is actually usable. The i4 supports fast charging at a max of 200 kW which can boost 10% charge into 80% within 31 minutes.
It is to be noted that it is still less than what EVs like the Audi E-Tron GT and Hyundai Ioniq 5 is capable of. According to BMW, when hooked up to a Level 2 charger, the i4’s battery can charge 100% in 7.6 hours. BMW is offering a $100 charging credit with the purchase or lease of a new i4.
BMW i4 eDrive40 uses a single-motor, rear wheel drive configuration with 335 horsepower and 317 pound feet torque. The company estimated BMW to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph within just 5.7 seconds for the i4 eDrive40. As of now, though official EPA range ratings are TBD, the company expects the eDrive40 to go about 300 miles with a full charge.
On the other hand, BMW i4 M50 has a two-motor, all-wheel-drive set up so it is more powerful. The company has not specified torque specs for the i4 M50’s front or rear motors. The company only revealed that they produce 255 hp and 308 hp, respectively. BMW quoted a combined output of 536 hp and 586 lb.-ft which lets M50 accelerate up to 60 mph within 3.9 seconds with a top speed of 140 mph. It is to be noted that despite the additional motor, the extra power takes a toll on the range. The company estimated that it will have an EPA rating of around 245 miles.
The M50 has a bunch of improvements over the standard i4 eDrive40/ It comes with an electronically adjustable adaptive suspension, larger antiroll bars, an additional strut tower brace, and M Sport brakes. Moreover, the M50 also has variable sports steering with a much quicker ratio of 14.1:1 against 15.5:1 in the i4 eDrive40.
The M50 can also recuperate more braking energy than the eDrive40. The M50 can recuperate break energy at a max rate of 195 kW while the i4 can only do at 116 kW. The M50 comes with driver-assistance systems like forward-collision warning, lane-departure warning, full-speed adaptive cruise control, automated parking assist, and much more. Even the i4 comes with several adjustable driving sounds which are produced by none other than Hans Zimmer.
BMW i4 eDrive40 will come with a price tag of 56,395 USD which is around 39,798 GBP. Note that the dollar price includes 995 USD for the destination but excludes federal or any other type of local rebates. Similarly, i4 M50 comes with a price tag of 66,895 USD which is around 47,200 GBP.
