All-electric BMW i8 supercar on the cards

BMW is reportedly about to pull the trigger on a pure-electric replacement for its BMW i8 sports car that will gift it supercar-haunting levels of performance.

According to

A source working close with the German car-maker has told the Brit mag that it's the latter that senior BMW officials are favouring, but the switch to electric could prove a problem.

The second-generation BMW i8 was said to have already been confirmed internally to persevere with the current car's high-output all-wheel drive hybrid set-up. It's not known if changing to all-electric power will push back the launch date of the next i8 as engineers and designers reset to start from scratch.

BMW execs are only now considering a pure-electric i8, Autocar claims, because execs are under pressure from the car-maker's board to provide a "tangible link" between BMW's big investment in Formula E and its road car division.

A battery-powered BMW i8 would also be perfectly positioned to fight off new zero-emission sports car competition from the likes of the Tesla Roadster and the planned pure-electric Audi R8.

Helping lower the cost of its development, the electric BMW i8 is rumoured to share key parts of its drivetrain with the forthcoming 2021 iNEXT SUV.

New technology destined for the BMW i8 is a next-gen electric motor that has been designed, developed and engineered by BMW to boast significantly higher rotational speeds, ensuring a superior power-to-weight ratio compared to existing motors.

The new electric motor is said to be already in use on prototype i8 mules.

Counting against a full pure-electric i8, insiders say the sports car will just miss out on next-gen solid-state battery technology as it won't be ready in time.

Other engineering challenges include finding a suitable platform to underpin the i8's batteries that will need to provide for a range of around 500km.

The current carbon-fibre i8 architecture has been deemed too heavily biased for its internal combustion hybrid set-up to be re-used.

One option is for the new i8 is to share its bones with the iNEXT, but no definitive decision has been made yet, insiders claim.

In the past it was thought the next i8 would dump its three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine for a four-cylinder  or even an inline six-cylinder that would generate around 450kW, but now it's thought a battery-powered reinterpretation could punch out around as much as 750kW to keep up with its rivals.

According to insiders, BMW execs have until the second half of this year to make a final decision on the i8's future before its specification is locked down and work continues on the flagship sports car.