Currently, in the field of pure electric vehicles, other manufacturers have more products, and Tesla holds a larger share. But we are accelerating development now and we have a comprehensive automotive product line. Let’s look forward to the 3 series and 7 series in 2022 together. – Jochen Goller, President and CEO of BMW Group China
At the 2022 annual financial report meeting, BMW Group announced the key milestones for electrification of the entire group by 2030 as follows:
- By 2022, there will be 15 mass-produced and trial-produced purely electric models, led by the innovative pure electric BMW i7 in the field of pure electric vehicles;
- By the end of 2025, 2 million purely electric vehicles are planned to be delivered;
- By 2030, the Rolls-Royce brand and the BMW Motorrad Urban Mobility series will be fully electrified;
- In the early 2030s, MINI will become a purely electric brand.
The i7 is the flagship sedan in this generation of pure electric vehicles from BMW. BMW’s head of R&D, Frank Weber, confirmed that the i7 will provide hardware to support Level 3 autonomous driving features, and the L2 level assisted driving feature called “Motorway Assist” can be used immediately upon launch, but higher level features still require approval from regulatory authorities in each region and will be activated through OTA updates.
The BMW theater screen “My Mode Theatre” debuted in CES 2022 held in Las Vegas in January of this year: a 31-inch ultra-wide 8K touch screen that can be adjusted, paired with the Bowers \& Wilkins Diamond Surround Sound System on BMW high-end models. The infotainment system of the i7 supports 5G connectivity and will also be connected to internet streaming content in the future.
It is speculated that there are three models of the i7 car:
- BMW i7 eDrive45
- BMW i7 xDrive50
- BMW i7 M60
From BMW’s fifth-generation electric drive platform, the i7 may be equipped with two battery packs with capacities of 76.6 kWh and 111.5 kWh, providing a range of about 580-610 km under the WLTP standard. It is expected that the i7 will support fast charging of at least 200 kW, enough to replenish about 100 km of range in about 10 minutes.
It is estimated that the BMW i7 will be priced at around 100,000 euros in Germany and will be available worldwide after its debut at the 2022 Beijing Auto Show.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.