The Bavarian maker of "ultimate driving machines" is far ahead of both Mercedes and VW Group's Audi and Porsche brands in electric-car expertise, with its i3 battery-electric minicar and i8 plug-in hybrid sport coupe now entering their second year of production.
It plans to face off more directly against Tesla, according to the report, with a new sedan--possibly to be called i7--with unique bodywork that's based on the current 5-Series mid-size sedan, but fitted with BMW's new Power eDrive architecture.
That powertrain, however, is essentially an electric vehicle with 200-kW (268-hp) electric motor to power the rear wheels, and a 150-kW (201-hp) front electric motor combined with a 245-hp four-cylinder range-extending combustion engine.
Combined with battery packs of up to 20 kilowatt-hours, the output of these systems will be more than 500 kW (670 hp). The default driving mode is fully electric up to its battery capacity, then range-extended electric thereafter.
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