2019 BMW i3 May Get A Larger 42 kWh Battery

With competition in the electric vehicle market hotting up, BMW is preparing to launch an enlarged battery pack for the popular i3.

During a recent commercial vehicle event in Germany, BMW announced that it will introduce a new 84 kWh battery for an undisclosed truck by combining two of its 42 kWh battery packs, Electrive reports. This has fuelled speculation that BMW has developed a new 42 kWh battery which it will introduce in the 2019 i3.

The automaker has reportedly been working on a new battery pack for the i3 for quite some time.

It remains unclear if the BMW i3 will receive survive into a second generation. This could be the final one.

Existing BMW i3 models use a 33 kWh battery and have an official range of 114 miles (183 km) under the EPA cycle. While that’s not enough to compete with the Tesla Model 3 and new Nissan Leaf, it is an improvement over the range offered by the 19 kWh battery initially offered in the i3.

The current Nissan Leaf, sold with a single powertrain configuration, has a range of 150 miles (241 km) and it’s reasonable to assume that the 42 kWh BMW i3 will have a similar range. Unfortunately for BMW, a 60 kWh version of the Nissan Leaf is just around the corner and is set to deliver more than 200 hp while offering a range exceeding 200 miles (321 km).

BMW will reportedly unveil the new i3 at next week’s Paris Auto Show. The long-range Nissan Leaf could premiere just a few weeks later at the Los Angeles Auto Show.