G26 BMW i4 eDrive40 – EV to launch in Malaysia soon

It’s confirmed – BMW Malaysia will be introducing the fully electric i4 soon. The i4, which first made its appearance on the Malaysian website back in May, will be one of three brand new BMW i models to be sold here. The iX xDrive40e is currently the only model on sale (from RM420k), but registration of interest is now open for the i4 and iX3.

For now, the i4 eDrive40 appears to be the only variant on the Malaysian site, and its feature set is quite comprehensively broken down too. In fact, there’s a configurator for you to fiddle with, complete with a range of paint colours, wheel designs, interior trimmings and leather upholstery colours. You also get to see the i4 in its sportier M Sport guise.

To quickly recap, the i4 is a four-door coupe based heavily on the G22 4 Series Gran Coupe, but has 26 mm wider front tracks and 13 mm wider rear tracks compared to the G20 3 Series. Placement of the 83.9 kWh battery pack also creates a lower centre of gravity – a full 53 mm lower compared to the 3er, to be exact.

In terms of performance, the i4 eDrive40 gets a single 250 kW power unit, which makes 340 PS and 430 Nm of torque. The motor powers the rear wheels via a single-speed transmission, helping it do the century sprint in 5.7 seconds before maxing out at an electronically-governed top speed of 190 km/h. Weight distribution for this variant is 45.1:54.9.

As for range, the 83.9 kWh battery (covered with an eight-year or 160,000 km warranty) is capable of providing up to 590 km of range (WLTP cycle) on a full charge. It supports up to 200 kW DC fast-charging (CCS Combo 2 connection), so a 10-minute charge time provides up to 164 km of range. The i4 ships with an 11 kW integrated AC charger (Type 2 connection) – charging at this rate will juice up the battery from 0% to 100% in under 8.5 hours. The electric motor is capable of handling up to 195 kW of regenerative braking.

When comparing total cost of maintenance, BMW says the i4 is about 30% cheaper to maintain than a comparable model with a combustion engine. This is after taking into account expenses on motor vehicle tax, insurance, maintenance and wear parts. There are no oil changes for the i4 and no exhaust system to service either, plus the brakes are subject to less strain because the motors help with deceleration.

GALLERY: BMW i4 eDrive40