The BMW i4 eDrive35 is BMW's cheapest EV

The newly launched BMW i4 eDrive35 is officially the cheapest all-electric BMW you can buy, priced at $334,888 with COE (at the time of writing).

Like the i4 eDrive40, the new i4 variant uses BMW 5th-gen eDrive technology with a motor mounted in the rear. However, in the eDrive35's application, the motor output has been dialled back so it produces 286 horsepower and 400Nm of torque, identical power figures to that of the iX3. 

The i4 eDrive35 gets from 0-100km/h in six seconds flat, and can manage a top speed of up to 190km/h. It also uses a smaller battery than the 80.7kWh battery pack in the i4 eDrive40 or i4 M50, with 66kWh of usable (net) capacity.

On paper, the i4 eDrive35 has a quoted efficiency figure of 19.3kWh/100km and a maximum range of 483km under the WLTP test cycle. But if our range test of the eDrive40 is anything to go by, we could perhaps see it clock even better range and efficient figures than its on-paper specs would suggest.

The new entry-level BMW i4 joins the BMW EV portfolio alongside the i4 M50, the i7 Uber-luxe saloon, the iX SUV and the iX3 SUV. Given its lower starting price, it undercuts the iX3 (which is the second most affordable BMW EV) by $8,000.

But that S$8,000 cost savings could get you up to roughly 13,000 kWh worth of juice at today's charging prices. Which should theoretically net you north of 67,000km of range, given the i4 eDrive35's electrical consumption.

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This article was first published in CarBuyer.