BMW’s fully electric version of the 3 Series – which could be called the ‘i3’ – has been spied testing.

The latter gets an 80kWh battery feeding a 390kW electric motor, for a 0-100km/h time in the region of four seconds. BMW previously experimented with an electric 5 Series ‘Power BEV’ test car that developed 530kW.
If it was to follow the naming convention of those cars, this electric 3 Series could end up being called the ‘i3’ – taking over the name used by BMW’s first production electric car, which is a smaller but more distinctive hatchback.
Again, there is no official confirmation of this yet, but while BMW has confirmed that the current i3 won’t get a direct replacement, it has also said that it could remain in production for several years with updates.
Whatever it’s called, when the electric 3 Series does arrive, it’ll sit alongside the i4, offering a more sober and conventional take on the BMW electric-car formula to the dramatically styled four-door coupe.
This would mirror the respective positioning of the internal-combustion-engined 3 Series saloon and 4 Series Gran Coupe models in the current BMW line-up.
Stephen Errity