For now, we do not have too much data on the BMW i5, since it will not reach the market until 2025, although some sketches have now been leaked that seem to reveal the image that the third member of the BMW i family will have. This is the patent that BMW has registered in Japan, in which you can see a model with a style similar to that of the i3 and i8 but larger.
BMW electric range will grow in 2025 with the arrival of the BMW i5, which is positioned as a more spacious and familiar option and is presented as a possible rival for the Tesla Model S . In Munich it is time to decide how the company’s electric future will be and it seems that there are two options on the table: a larger and more advanced minivan than the BMW i3 or a design sedan very much in the style of Tesla’s flagship. Under the code F18 PHEV, it will be based on the next generation of the BMW 5 Series, although with exclusive specifications to house the batteries.
Although it is still a mystery, some images have been leaked (from the Chinese Copyright Office) of what could be the new BMW electric for the ‘i’ family, and let’s say that the concept shown here is difficult to look at. To these photographs, we must now add these that you have here, which also come from a patent office, although in this case Japanese. According to the source, BMW would have registered these sketches in the country of the rising sun, drawings that show us a vehicle much more visually stylized than the one seen in China. On the other hand, the graphic designer RMCardesign has imagined how it could be and its interpretation is that of a crossover with an image inspired by the BMW i8: it would be a tremendous rival for the Tesla Model X ! You can see it in the gallery that heads this article.
This could be the future BMW i5
If we take into account the brand’s plans unveiled by our colleagues at latestcarnews in Germany, the future rival of the Tesla Model S could be a 100 percent electric model and not a plug-in hybrid version as discussed at first. It will have a 165 kW (225 hp) electric drive, associated with 75 kWh batteries that would be responsible for giving life to the car for about 400 km. However, the Bavarian brand could offer, as is the case with the BMW i3 ‘range extender’, a version with extended autonomy, in which they would use a three-cylinder combustion engine. What is not clear is that if this engine would only charge the batteries (as in the i3) or if it would work as a traditional plug-in hybrid. The joint power could reach 400 hp.
The future BMW i5, however, can still offer us surprises that leave us amazed. One of the aesthetic options that are discussed in the rumors is the vertical opening doors, type butterfly, already seen in the BMW i8. Of course, carbon fiber will be the protagonist, to achieve lightness and rigidity. The conceptual model that the Germans have presented on the occasion of the brand’s centennial celebration, the BMW Vision Next 100, could advance the aesthetic lines of the long-awaited i5. I remind you that BMW has registered all the names from the BMW i1 to the i8.
Another novelty with which BMW could surprise us is the type of mechanics. As I already mentioned, the option that starts with more possibilities to move to the future BMW i5 is the electric mechanics with optional extended autonomy, but the Bavarian brand has already made it clear that it is working on a much more ambitious project: the fuel cell. Thanks to its collaboration with Toyota, BMW may already be working on a fuel cell-powered model, taking the technology directly from the Toyota Mirai. Could the BMW i5 be a hydrogen car? Could this be the revolution that Ian Robertson, the brand’s head of marketing and sales, is talking about?
Many are still the unknowns that they plan on this project and that BMW keeps very much alive. Let’s hope that the final product is attractive and provides first-rate technological solutions, it seems that autonomy could easily exceed 500 km, more than 700 if hydrogen were finally chosen, an exciting project, perfect to celebrate the centenary of BMW. Photo; AutoZeitung
