2026 BMW i4 First Look: More Range, More M Power for Bimmer's Entry-Level EV

Motor Trend

03-06-2025

As we enter the halfway point of 2025, we are expecting updates for 2026 model year vehicles to really start ramping up. Among the early wave of announcements is the 2026 BMW i4, the all-electric luxury compact sedan that looks like its conventional gas-fed 4 Series Gran Coupe sibling that it shares a platform with. While European-market i4 models will see these updates before we will, the improved range and power for certain models of the i4 will apply to the 2026 model-year i4 headed for the U.S. market.
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The 2026 BMW i4 eDrive35 and eDrive40 models will gain some modest range—perhaps 10 or so miles—thanks to new silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductor components in the inverters. This change alone is good enough for up to a roughly 5 percent reduction in energy consumption. Today's eDrive35 is claimed to achieve 266 miles of range on the EPA test cycle, while the single-motor eDrive40 delivers up to 318 miles by the same calculations (bigger wheel sizes erode those figures somewhat). So, upping those numbers by five percent nets estimates of up to 279 miles for the eDrive35, and up to 334 miles for the eDrive40.
We'll update this piece when official 2026 model-year EPA estimates are released later this year; so far, there's no word on whether the eDrive35 is expected to return to the lineup—it's no longer listed on BMW's U.S. website, though it was previously available for a lower price than the more powerful and bigger-battery eDrive40—nor is there specific mention of the dual-motor xDrive40 model, though we suspect if it returns it'd get the same five-percent range bump as its rear-drive sibling.
But Wait, There's More!
There will also be an update to the i4's high-performance variant, which through the 2025 model year has been known as the i4 M50 xDrive. For 2026, it gets a name change to i4 M60 xDrive and gets extra output from its dual motors. How does a 57-hp bump sound? That gives the M60 xDrive 601 hp total, enough to punt it to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.7 seconds to hit 100 km/h by BMW's estimates. That is a 0.2-second improvement from the 2025 i4 M50 xDrive's same acceleration time. When we tested the 2025 M50 xDrive ourselves, the U.S.-market version hit 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds with "only" 536 hp going to the wheels.
Again, these numbers are largely speculative and based on BMW's claimed efficiency improvements. Official U.S. numbers and pricing (as well as details on the lineup overall) won't come until closer to 2026 BMW i4 on-sale date, scheduled for some time in Q4 of this year. Regardless, the numbers look promising for BMWs all-electric luxury compact sedan.