Rumors of an electric BMW 7-series or i7 have been circulating for some time now. Last week BMW had finally announced that its next-generation 7-series would appear in four different powertrain options, one of which being all-electric.
At BMW’s Annual Accounts Press Conference 2020, Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG stated:
“And I can tell you officially today: That our BMW 7 Series flagship will be one of them. The next-generation 7 Series will be available with four drive train variants: petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid and fully-electric. All drive trains will be based on a single architecture. And the top, most powerful 7 Series will be fully electric!”
The statement was in regards to what cars would be produced in BMW’s factory in China and exported out to other markets. The upcoming iX3 is one of the cars being produced there, but unfortunately, BMW has recently announced that the iX3 would not be making it to the US market. Hopefully, the new electric 7-series won’t follow the same fate.
No further specifics were given regarding the, what I assume will be called, i7. Sources close to BMW tell BMWBlog that we should expect at least 650 hp and a 100 kW battery pack giving at least 400 miles of range.
Additionally, since the electric version will be the most powerful version of the 7-series according to BMW, there is an “M” version of the car coming that will reportedly be known as the “Mi7”. Given that Chinese smartphone maker, Xiaomi already has a line of phones called Mi 8, Mi 9, etc. I wonder if there will be some complications in the naming, but probably not do the vast difference in industries.
No timetable was given for the i7, but with BMW wanting to have at least 13 fully electric models by 2023, we feel like it’s safe to say that the i7 will be coming out in two years’ time.
What do you guys think? Let me know down in the comments below.
