At the heart of the BMW i3 is a bespoke electric motor tagged BMW eDrive, which its maker also refers to as hybrid synchronous in design. It was developed in-house and is also used in the BMW i8.

Hence the BMW i3 weighs just 1320kg in standard form. So with maximum torque available from a standstill it should be no surprise that it puts in a decent 0-62mph time - at 7.3 seconds.

Like its i8 supercar sibling, the i3 won’t be replaced with a new-generation version, but BMW says it will continue to develop this high-tech hatch ... You’ll need to step up to the $44,990 Cooper C ...

BMW was one of the first car manufacturers to debut a mass-market EV, the i3, in 2013. Like every non-Tesla EV from that era, the i3 was a quirky, hatchback-type thing with a city car range.

With their debut just around the corner, BMW is giving us a closer look at the upcoming i3 and iX3 as it wraps up testing. BMW’s new i3 and iX3 EVs are coming soon The first Neue Klasse model ...