Article Abstract
- The i7 facelift will debut on the 2026 Beijing Auto Present with a brand-new Rimac-developed Gen6 cylindrical cell battery pack, providing 20% larger vitality density and considerably quicker charging than the outgoing mannequin.
- The 2027 BMW i5 LCI can not undertake the identical cylindrical cell structure resulting from its current G60 platform, however the broader BMW–Rimac partnership — explicitly designed to cowl a number of EVs — may nonetheless ship a significant battery improve and an estimated 750–770 km of WLTP vary.
- Regardless of early spy photographs hinting at a Neue Klasse exterior overhaul, the i5 facelift has been dialled again to a extra restrained replace, although the inside can be dramatically reworked with iDrive X and Panoramic Imaginative and prescient expertise.
BMW has formally confirmed that the upcoming i7 facelift will profit from a brand-new battery pack developed in partnership with Rimac. It’s a big milestone for the two-year-old BMW–Rimac alliance — and it instantly raises a query we first put to our readers again in December 2025: which different BMWs are in line for a similar therapy? The i5 facelift, due in 2027, looks as if probably the most logical subsequent candidate.
The BMW–Rimac Partnership, Briefly Defined
Though the collaboration between BMW Group and Rimac was made public in April 2024, Mate Rimac revealed on the time that the 2 corporations had truly been working collectively in secret since 2022. The Rimac Group’s CEO and founder described the deal as “not solely the largest job in our historical past, however maybe the largest contract within the historical past of the nation.” It was, from the beginning, a long-term association — explicitly protecting extra electrical autos past whichever mannequin can be first.
That first mannequin seems to be the i7 facelift, set to debut on the 2026 Beijing Auto Present on April 22. Regardless of being a mid-cycle replace, the i7 is getting a totally new battery structure. BMW is switching to its Gen6 pack, which makes use of 4695 lithium-ion cylindrical cells — the identical format already seen within the new iX3 and i3. In comparison with the outgoing prismatic cells, cylindrical cells supply roughly 20% larger vitality density. Rimac has helped BMW combine these with Gen5 module-based expertise, making a scalable structure that may, in principle, be utilized throughout a number of platforms. The battery itself can be manufactured on the Rimac Campus close to Zagreb, Croatia, and shipped to BMW’s Dingolfing plant for last meeting.
The prevailing i7 tops out at 195 kW of charging energy — good for 106 miles (170 km) of vary in 10 minutes and a ten%–80% cost in 34 minutes. BMW has indicated the facelifted mannequin will “cost a lot quicker,” although precise figures haven’t been launched. Reaching the 400 kW peak of the Neue Klasse fashions appears unlikely with out an 800-volt electrical structure, however significant progress over the present spec seems sure.
So, What Concerning the i5?
Right here’s the place it will get attention-grabbing. The i7 is simply the opening chapter of what BMW and Rimac have been constructing towards. The long-term nature of the deal — explicitly protecting future electrical autos — means extra fashions will comply with. The 2027 BMW i5 facelift, recognized internally because the G60 LCI, is a pure match. Primarily based on what we all know, we’d count on the i5 LCI to focus on someplace within the area of 750 to 770 km of WLTP vary, relying on battery measurement. That might be a considerable leap over the present i5 M60 xDrive’s 516 km — and would put it firmly within the dialog with the very best government EVs on sale.
For now, what the i7 announcement clarifies is that the BMW–Rimac partnership fills a niche within the present lineup for all of the upcoming electrical facelifts. But it surely stays to be seen how this partnership will evolve sooner or later contemplating that BMW will transition in some unspecified time in the future all their vehicles on the Gen6 structure.
