2024 BMW i5 Prototype First Drive: Same 5, Now an EV

Maybe it hit us when we were silently hustling, weaving, and winding around one of BMW's challenging road courses at its sprawling Miramas test facility in southern France. Or maybe it was as we were flying down a French back road in high-speed pursuit of our chase car. Then again, it could have been when we smashed the brakes and felt nothing but progressive, linear, and stout stopping power. It became ever clearer to us the quicker (and slower) we went: The exciting all-new 2024 BMW i5 EV is a true 5 Series, and a damn good one at that.

It shouldn't come as much of a shock (pun intended) that our first taste of BMW's new eighth-generation 5 Series was of its all-new i5 EV. After all, automakers the world over have been tripping over their charging cords to bring ever more all-electric-powered cars to market. But BMW officials we talked with during our day hammering on, learning about, and otherwise experiencing a couple of prototype versions of the i5 EV made it clear that the German automaker has been taking its sweet time developing the fully electric versions of its cars, especially so with vehicles as near and dear to the brand as the 5 Series, which is set to go on sale later this year. They're well aware of their well-earned place in the market as purveyors of performance-oriented machines, and nothing less than a BMW that drives like it's supposed to is the goal—regardless of powertrain.

To underscore the point, the i5 is being built on the same production line as the rest of the 5 Series lineup at its Dingolfing plant in Germany. Of course, there are differences between the i5 and the more traditionally powered 5 Series models it will share the line with, the most obvious of which is the battery pack lining the floor of the car. To help offset the battery's weight disadvantage, BMW effectively uses its stiffness as a chassis component, helping to improve weight transfer and better control body motion.

Speaking of body motion, one of the BMW i5's biggest dynamic highlights is its active roll stabilization system, powered by a 48-volt electric setup, similar in scope to what's been rolled out in the all-electric 7 Series. As you'd expect, it's designed to flatten the car when the going gets twisty or bumpy. Helping the cause is a special rear axle air suspension that also aids in keeping the car flat and less jouncy over rough surfaces, as we found out first-hand during a couple of hot laps around another of the Miramas facility's rough road test circuits. Furthering the i5's handling prowess is its rear steering setup that moves the axle 2.5 degrees in or out of phase with the front wheels depending on the speed and situation. As we dove several times into a set of tight hairpins, it allowed us to set up and turn the car without any real correction.

All of this advanced handling gear will either come standard or as options for the two variants of the 2024 i5, the rear-motor i5 eDrive40 with 335 total system horsepower or the dual-motor front/rear i5 M60 xDrive with a stonking 590 horsepower. Not surprisingly, it wasn't as explosive or nimble as the M60 (it's not a true M car, but the M division "breathed on" the suspension and other areas), but during our time driving the rear-motor eDrive40 through villages and back roads around the Miramas facility, it proved agile enough. Pressing the Boost gauge button to access a bit more juice for a short burst upped the fun factor a smidge. In addition, wheel and tire packages from 19 to 21 inches with varying levels of performance tires will factor into the ride, handling, and range mix.

Although BMW wasn't forthcoming yet with its battery pack power numbers or either car's straight-line acceleration, we expect that the eDrive40's 0-60-mph time will be somewhere in the low to mid-5-second range, with the M60 clocking in around 3.5 seconds. The battery pack's power should be somewhere in the neighborhood of the smaller i4 EV's 83.9 kWh capacity, and BMW expects max range to be around 295 miles to a charge, though that's not yet an EPA-rated number. The range is enabled thanks in part to improving airflow around the wheels and a slippery drag coefficient of 0.23. BMW is also introducing a new feature on the i5 called MaxRange mode, which will help the driver who is close to running out of range eke out the last few electrons possible to limp to a charger.

Acceleration and dynamics will vary some between the i5 models, but one thing that didn't feel any different on either car was the brakes, which we found to be among the best—if not the best—EV braking system we've ever encountered from a standpoint of how they felt relative to more traditional braking systems on non-EV cars. BMW engineers we spoke with during our time with the i5, including senior vice president of driving experience Nicolai Martin, made a point to mention how much time and effort the team expended making the car's hydraulic brake-by-wire system (similar to the one on the i7) as dialed in for the new EV 5 Series as possible. "We especially invested additional effort in the 5 Series specific application," Martin said. It showed when we slowed.

The other major system that BMW was keen to showcase for us was the latest version of its advanced driver assist system, called Highway Assistant with automated lane change, which we tested out on a stretch of French highways and back roads. There were several takeaways we learned from our test run:

But the pièce de résistance is the ability to perform an automated lane change just by looking to the rearview mirror. Yes, you read that right. If the system detects you're free to change lanes and prompts you, all you need to do is look to your left or right and it will change lanes. It's a fun party trick to impress your friends—it certainly impressed us.

BMW engineers we spoke to also made it clear that through over-the-air updates, they will be able to update and upgrade the system over time (one of many onboard systems it will be able to update) and will use the learnings gleaned from drivers to bring more advanced autonomous features to succeeding generations of BMWs.

As for the other advanced technologies on the 2024 i5, you'll find the same high-definition curved touchscreen display that's been rolled out to other recent BMWs; it spans the instrument panel and primary user interface. But the i5 and the 5 Series writ large will be the first BMWs to come standard with the automaker's newly updated iDrive 8.5 system, which will allow users to configure it more along the lines of a smartphone.

Other than that, we weren't able to get a full picture of the interior or exterior given all the camouflage, but expect the i5's cabin to be the same mix of comfortable appointments mixed with sporty touches that has defined the 5 Series for generations. And also expect it to have its own expressive exterior style. Whether that's good or bad will be entirely up to the eye of the beholder, but the silhouette certainly looks like a mature, three-box sedan that should prove to be an acceptable evolution of the present 5 Series.

Evolution is indeed what's occurring with BMW. It's more than keeping up with the Joneses on the technology front, but as previously mentioned, it's also taking a methodical approach to the engineering and development of its EVs. Because whatever powers its machines, BMW is working overtime to make sure those cars and SUVs continue to burnish its reputation.