BMW X1 tipped for hybrid treatment

BMW’s smallest SUV could join the hybrid ranks… And sooner than you think.

As the recently released second-generation X1 joins the MINI and 2 Series Active Tourer in sharing BMW's UKL front-drive architecture, the smallest X model also stands to receive the same petrol/electric hybrid drivetrains as its twin-under-the-skin siblings.

The new X1 already features the same range of three and four-cylinder turbocharged petrol and diesel engines as its ‘partners’, and is by design ripe for hybridisation.

“Of course it’s possible,” a source close to the X1’s powertrain development team told motoring.com.au at the X1’s global launch.

“The design is similar [to the 2 Series Active Tourer] so in theory we could do this, but we have to see if the customer wants this.

“The US market will have a different petrol engine, and for Europe the diesel engine gives us already low consumption and CO2 [emissions], so it’s a question of whether it is [commercially] feasible, not if it’s possible.”

BMW has yet to reveal exactly which drivetrain would motivate the X1 eDrive (as it would likely be known), but says we will see some form of hybrid model in the first part of next year.

The most likely power source is a derivative of the three-cylinder turbo-petrol and electric motor set-up found powering the i8 sports car, which in the X1 would see an arrangement where the 100kW/220Nm 1.5-litre petrol engine drives the front wheels, and the 65kW/165Nm electric motor, the rear.

It's a similar set-up to the i8, and the less exciting 2 Series Active Tourer eDrive. Like the 2 Series Active Tourer eDrive, we'd expect an all-electric range of around 38km and a 0-100km/h time of roughly 6.5sec from the hybrid X1 – as well as the benefits of all-wheel drive. Battery power will come from a 150kg lithium-ion unit with a claimed operating range of 5.8kWh.

The other bit of good news is that a claimed range nearing that of the 2 Series Active Tourer eDrive is also possible. Aerodynamic differences aside, the X1 eDrive could come close to offering a combined cycle fuel consumption figure of 2.0L/100km with CO2 emissions of less than 50g/km.

The currently eco-darling of the second-gen X1 range – the sDrive18d – uses more than double that at 4.1L/100km (and 109g/km of CO2).

The conventionally-powered second-generation BMW X1 range will go on sale locally from October.