FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: BMW upgrades i3, adds i3 S

Now that the diesel backlash has begun in Europe, the decision by BMW to build the i3 looks even cleverer than it did in 2014. And now its first ground-up electric car is getting even more power, pace and range as part of a midlife makeover.

Revealed ahead of its world debut at next month’s Frankfurt motor show, the upgraded i3 city-car brings a longer driving range from a standard 94Ah/33kWh battery pack, which was previously a $2000 option.

But BMW has also added a quicker, more powerful version for the first time, dubbed the i3 S (stupidly, BMW spells it ‘i3s’), which also comes with an upgraded chassis.

The standard, all-electric i3 continues to hit 100km/h in 7.3 seconds (almost a second sooner than the petrol/electric range-extender ‘REX’ model), thanks to a synchronous electric motor that delivers 125kW/250Nm, and BMW limits its top speed to 150km/h.

But the new i3 S adds 10kW of power to that figure and stacks on another 20Nm of torque, courtesy of new taper roller bearings in the electric motor and an upgraded motor control system.

That reduces its 0-100km/h sprint time by two-tenths to 6.9 seconds, with the heavier range-extender version remaining 0.8sec slower mostly because of it weighs 120kg more at 1265kg.

The i3 S rips to 60km/h in 3.7 seconds and the top speed of the flagship rear-drive four-seater is also 10km/h faster than the standard car, at 160km/h.

Like the base i3, the electric motor in the i3 S can recuperate energy under deceleration or down hills at up to 50kW.

The i3 S doesn’t stop there, though. BMW has pushed its rear wheel track width out by 40mm and its ride height down by 10mm lower, while its wheel rims are 20mm wider and it also uses specific anti-roll bars, dampers and springs.

It delivers 14.3kWh per 100km driven, which is just a touch worse than the 13.1kWh/100km of the standard car.

That’s partly because the standard i3 wears 155/70 R19 tyres front and rear, while the i3 S rides on 175/44 R20 front and 195/50 R20 rear rubber. BMW claims it has a tighter steering ratio and better throttle response, too.

Both models will be available with the controversial range-extender as an option, in which a twin-cylinder 650cc petrol engine stretches the stock i3’s claimed real-world range from 200km to 330km.

Priced $6000 higher in Australia, where i3 pricing current starts at $63,900, the REX has 28kW more power but it never directly drives the wheels. Instead, it drives a generator that produces electricity for the battery, adding another 150km of range to the battery pack.

Like before, the i3 sticks with its single-speed transmission, running a 9.665:1 ratio, and employs a five-link rear suspension and a MacPherson strut front-end with a turning circle of just 9.86 metres.

Its 353-volt lithium-ion battery recharges to 80 per cent of its capacity in just 39 minutes from a 50kW charger or, at worst, 11 hours from a household domestic socket.

There are also two levels of BMW’s own wall charger, with the 3.7kW/16-amp version taking 7:50 for an 80 per cent charge and the 7.4kW/32-amp unit taking half that time.

BMW still won’t follow Tesla down the Over-The-Air system for software updates for the i3, though it is doing OTA for navigation data.

Another upgrade comes via its electronic safety systems, which are now more accurate with specific wheel-speed controls, along with the ability to run in Level 2 autonomous mode in traffic jams at up to 60km/h.

It also has the option of parking assistance, which will locate free car parks and do everything (including braking, steering and gear changes) to place the car safely into them.

There’s also a Driving Assistant Plus collection of optional assistance systems, which will deliver the i3 a City Braking function (which includes pedestrian warnings), speed limit information, active cruise control and a stop-go function.

While the exterior design tweaks are more modest than the first two full pages of BMW’s press release would indicate, they do their best to push the visual width of the narrow car (it remains 1775mm wide, though the i3 S moves to 1791mm) and give it some more length.

The headlights are now full LED as standard equipment, meaning all the i3 lighting is done by light-emitting diodes, while the front bumper assembly is now painted in body colour.

As before, more than 80 per cent of the i3’s interior surfaces are made from recycled materials and BMW has swung in three interior equipment levels named (in an odd nod to interior design and architectural fashion) Loft, Lodge and Suite.

There is an optional new larger multimedia screen, pushed out to 10.25 inches at 1440x540 pixels, and it comes with the Navigation Plus package.

It covers all of the standard infotainment, communications and navigation functions with a layout of tiles arranged horizontally and there’s Apple CarPlay, which it didn’t have before. BMW also claims its voice recognition system is better. We shall see.

The i3 also scores on-street parking information, which it can use with real-time traffic information in Navigation Professional, if you want to pay even more money.

Besides displaying public charging stations, it uses information about route traffic, topography, speed and a host of other parameters to deliver a more accurate estimate of the car’s real-world range. There’s also a new range map that shows the range radius on the navigation screen.