It is just a couple of weeks until the Frankfurt Motor Show and, not surprisingly, there will be a number of new electric models. One will be the second generation of the BMW i3, which will also spawn an i3S version. The facelift of the i3 electric car adds straight-line speed and swings in extra power and handling with the i3s, plus the extra range from a 94Ah/33kWh battery pack. It remains a brisk city car rather than a blasting cap like the Tesla Model S, and it has nothing of the Californian brand’s marketing/speed giggles, like its Ludicrous mode. Instead, the stock i3 reaches 100km/h in 7.3 seconds, and that makes it eight-tenths of a second quicker than the range-extender model. The standard synchronous electric motor delivers 125kW and the from-idle torque peak of 250Nm, with BMW limiting its top speed to 150km/h. But that’s not as fast as the i3 range gets, with the new i3s model adding 10kW of power to that figure and stacking on another 20Nm of torque. To get there, BMW g...

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.