BMW has officially unveiled the first fully electric version of its 3 Series, somewhat confusingly handing the battery-powered sedan the i3 badge. For the time being, it’s for China only…

What you’re looking at here is the new BMW i3. Confused? We don’t blame you. The Munich-based firm has opted to transfer the i3 moniker from its quirky electric hatchback to the first battery-powered version of the 3 Series sedan.

The new BMW i3 eDrive35L (which we actually first saw late in 2021 thanks to a leak) will be assembled at the BMW Brilliance Automotive plant in Shenyang and is billed as a model “exclusively for the Chinese market”. However, we certainly wouldn’t be surprised if a global version – likely sporting a standard rather than long wheelbase – is unveiled in the months ahead.

Scheduled to officially hit the Chinese market in May 2022, the i3 eDrive35L furthermore previews styling changes that will likely be rolled out to the upcoming facelifted version of the standard G20-generation 3 Series.

China’s long-wheelbase i3 sedan previews styling tweaks set to be applied to the facelifted 3 Series.

With an extra 110 mm between its axles (for a total of 2 966 mm) compared with the standard version of the premium compact sedan, the i3 eDrive35L features what BMW describes as a “premium rear-seat experience”. It measures 4 872 mm from nose to tail, making it 163 mm longer than the combustion-engined 3 Series offered in South Africa, and features luggage space of 410 litres (70 litres down on the standard sedan, likely thanks to its integrated battery pack).

So, what sort of powertrain does the newcomer employ? Well, the i3 eDrive35L uses the latest electric gubbins from the German automaker, borrowing components from the likes of the iX3, i4 and iX. The result is a peak power output of 210 kW, with maximum twisting force coming in at 400 Nm.

According to BMW, that’s enough for a 6.2-second 0-100 km/h sprint, with the 70.3 kWh battery (featuring a net capacity of 66.1 kWh) offering a claimed range of 526 km. The automaker says the i3 eDrive35L’s battery pack can be charged from 10 to 80% in 35 minutes when using a fast charger. Just short of100 km of range can be added by plugging in to such a system for 10 minutes.

Though the original i3 hatchback has been discontinued in some markets, it is expected to remain in production until at least July 2022. In South Africa, the i3 hatch is still available, with the local range comprising four derivatives (two of which employ range-extending combustion engines), with pricing bookends of R754 200 and R914 000.

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