In these ' spy ' shots of the car undergoing winter testing, BMW is giving us a first glimpse at the all-new 5 Series and electric i5.
From the Arctic to the Alps
BMW says it is testing the new electric i5 'from the Arctic Circle to the foothills of the Alps' which sounds like a pretty rocking holiday if you ask us. Doubtless, for the BMW engineers, it's no vacation, testing the new electric 5 Series in what look like some pretty horrid conditions on the roads between Arjeplog, in the far north of Sweden, to the Bavarian Alps.
The prototype i5 - wrapped in a dazzle camouflage - is no pampered show-queen either. These pictures were taken last year, in February 2022, when the car was driven all the way from Munich to Arjeplog for testing before being driven to near-destruction on country roads, motorways and specially prepared test tracks as well as frozen lakes. The idea, says BMW, was to test: "the car's ability to drive at low temperatures and on surfaces offering little grip."
Conventional styling (phew)
It also allows us to see what the new 5 Series and i5 might look like, and the good news seems to be - it's pretty conventional. Certainly, the grilles at the front look wider than they are tall, which is very good news (unless there's some very artful camouflage going on), and the i5's overall shape looks reassuringly familiar if you're a 5 Series fan. Mind you, BMW says that the headlights and brake lights, just visible through the camouflage, are only 'provisional' in design, so there may be a shock or two on the way yet...
The 3,000km journey certainly gave the i5 a chance to work out how its batteries and motors will work in extremely cold conditions. BMW says that it's using 'cutting-edge battery cell technology' - which probably doesn't mean the potentially ground-breaking new 'Gen6' batteries that BMW is known to be developing for the all-important 2025 'Neue Klasse' 3 Series, but which might include some of that new tech - and fifth-generation BMW eDrive technology for the electric motors.
Clever traction control
According to BMW, the use of the Arctic proving grounds in Arjeplog: "Create the perfect setting for exploring how the chassis components, steering and braking systems, and driving dynamic and driving stability systems all interact with one another in extreme outdoor conditions. As a result, the groundwork for the authoritative, assured and characteristically sporty handling of the new BMW i5 were already laid in the first test drives in Arjeplog."
BMW says that the snowy drives will have been used to hone the relationship between the car's stability and traction control systems. The i5 will get the 'near-actuator wheel slip limitation function' which places the traction control unit closer to the electric motor for ultra-rapid responses. For the first time, that system and the drive torque control system are interlinked to interact and complement each other flexibly in any driving situation.
In the coming months, we'll get our first up-close look at the new 5 Series and i5.