Today, Tesla is the only company that offers ‘really’ long-range electric vehicles—its Model S can go 335 miles (539km) on a full charge. On Thursday, BMW will best Tesla’s best by miles. At the Frankfurt Motor Show beginning September 14, the German carmaker will add an electric sedan to its ‘i’ sub-brand. The four-door model—kept under wraps (pictured) as BMW showed journalists around its Munich design headquarters on September 7—will go on sale by 2021 and will slot in between the i3 city car (also pictured) and the i8 plug-in sports car.
BMW has indicated that this yet unnamed car will have a 435-mile (700km) range. That puts it miles ahead of any electric car in the world—in fact, even further than many gas-powered cars go on a full tank.
BMW plans to offer at least 12 fully electric vehicles by 2025, including battery-powered variants of its mainstream models.
Even though it is an unfair comparison, Indian companies have a long way to go. Currently, the only company that sells electric vehicles in India is Mahindra, and the major challenge its vehicles face is range. Its hatchback E2O Plus has a range of 140km (87 miles) and its sedan e-Verito has a range of just 110km (68 miles). Mahindra also makes an electric van called the e-Supro, which can go 115km (71 miles) on a full charge—and the full charge takes over 8 hours.
