BMW said to be launching i3 electric car with 200-mile range
German car maker BMW is rumoured to be releasing updated versions of its all-electric vehicles to compete with rival models with longer ranges arriving on the market, according to a source at BMWBlog. The source said BMW is preparing for a tech update in 2018 that would increase the battery range of its i3 model by 60% – on top of this year's update, which took it to 114 miles.

On the new electric vehicle front, BMW had nothing to offer since launching the i3 and i8 almost 5 years ago and they are not expected to have a new EV built from the ground up to be electric until the end of the decade.

But they could be releasing updated versions of their current EVs in order to compete with new longer range electric cars coming to market.

The BMW i8 is already expected to feature a decent refresh with the 2018 model year, which the German automaker has been teasing recently.

As for the BMW i3, it already got a significant update with the 2017 version and its 33 kWh battery pack, which enables a range of about 114 miles.

It’s a significant upgrade compared to the previous version with a 22 kWh battery pack, but it doesn’t compete in term of range with the Chevy Bolt EV or the upcoming Tesla Model 3.

According to an inside source talking to BMWBlog, that could change with an upcoming new version for 2018-2019. They wrote:

“According to a source, BMW is likely preparing another tech update in late 2018 which will bring the capacity of the battery expressed in ampere hour (Ah) to 120. The pure electric driving range will be further increased by at least 60 percent.”

We would recommend to take this report with a grain of salt, but it’s not impossible considering BMW’s strategy is low in new EVs and could instead rely on existing models to stay relevant.

There have been a lot of rumors lately about BMW’s electric vehicle offering. Officially, the German automaker only plans to build a fully electric MINI in 2019, a fully electric BMW X3 in 2020, and the upcoming “fully electric BMW iNEXT” should follow in 2021.

But a long rumored all-electric 3 Series, which could actually cannibalize the i3, is rumored to be also in the plans and it could be unveiled as soon as in September.