Confirmed: BMW is building an all-electric 5 and 7 Series

By topgear, 29 July 2020

Yep, the 5 and 7 Series are about to go fully electric, as BMW pushes to cut CO2 emissions by at least a third per vehicle by 2030. It’s also aiming to cut emissions from its factories and facilities by 80 per cent, per vehicle produced, to less than ten per cent of what they were in 2006.

“The goal”, says BMW, is in ten years’ time “to have a total of more than seven million electrified BMW Group vehicles on the roads – around two thirds of them with a fully-electric drive train”. By the end of next year BMW will offer five EVs – the i3, i4, iX3, iNext and MINI Electric – and by 2023 it should have no fewer than 25 electrified models in its line-up, half of which will be full-EVs.

As we know, BMW is all about choice. No more dedicated EV platforms for the foreseeable, it told us a couple of weeks ago. Instead, platforms that can accept EV, hybrid and ICE powertrains.

So the next BMW 7 Series will be available with four different powertrain options – petrol or diesel, both with 48-volt mild-hybrid systems, a plug-in hybrid or full-on EV. Same goes for the next-gen 5 Series and X1, both of which will be available with an e-motor and batteries instead of an internal combustion engine and fuel tank.

It shouldn’t be long before we see production versions of the i4 and iNext, the next EVs BMW will launch, but the new 7, 5 and X1 could be a bit further off.

Fingers crossed the 5 Series resembles the mad 720hp, tri-motor ‘Power BEV’ development 5er BMW showed-off last year…

STORY Tom Harrison

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