2018 BMW i3 unveiled with small design refresh and new sport package

This week, BMW unveiled the 2018 version of its flagship all-electric vehicle, the BMW i3.

Unless you are a true fan of the i3 program, you probably won’t see anything major with this new version, which doesn’t feature any significant powertrain upgrade, but there are a few new nice changes. 

It still has the same 33 kWh battery pack, which enables roughly 124 miles of range:

“Located low in the vehicle floor, the lithium-ion high-voltage battery provides a range of 290 to 300 kilometres (180-186 miles)* based on the NEDC cycle, 235 to 255 kilometres (146 to 158 miles)** as per WLTP and up to 200 kilometres (124 miles)*** in everyday use. The combined electric power consumption of the new BMW i3 on the NEDC cycle varies between 13.6 and 13.1 kWh for every 100 kilometres*.”

When introduced last year, the new battery pack gave an edge to BMW when it comes to all-electric range, but the German automaker is now losing that edge to other vehicles like the Chevy Bolt EV, Tesla Model 3, or even the Renault Zoe in Europe.

They did a small design refresh, which will be almost indiscernible for most people:

The restyling of the front and rear aprons places particular emphasis on the car’s width, which has the effect of signalling just how sporty both models are to drive and how sure their handling is. A chrome-design trim strip running across the full width of the rear and the positioning of the model and eDrive badges on the outer edges of the boot lid serves to reinforce this impression.

Here are diagrams that show some of the differences:

And here’s a gallery of the 2018 BMW i3:

The most important upgrade is a new sport package called BMW i3s with a slightly higher performance motor (135 kW/184 hp vs 125 kW/170 hp) and a new sport suspension.

BMW says that it can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.9 seconds.

The new version of the car also results in an additional 40 millimetres of track width and some new design accents.

Here’s a gallery of the 2018 BMW i3s:

The 2018 BMW i3 is still available with the gas range extender option and both packages come with a new version of BMW’s iDrive user interface.

What do you think of the new 2018 BMW i3? Let us know in the comment section below.