BMW has more electric cars on sale, or about to be, than at any point in its history, and not surprisingly, the newest ones are also the best ones. Also, for years, the choice was between a good-looking gas-powered BMW and a compromised electric one. That gap just closed, at least for buyers willing to go Neue Klasse. Here’s how the current EV lineup shakes out, ranked by what you’d actually want to sign the paperwork on.
1. BMW iX3: The One To Order
The 2027 iX3 50 xDrive starts at $61,500 before the $1,350 destination charge, and for that money you get 434 miles of EPA-estimated range, 463 horsepower from a dual-motor setup, and a 0-60 time of 4.7 seconds. Peak DC charging hits 400 kW on the new 800-volt architecture, which BMW says can add 231 miles in about 10 minutes. Those aren’t incremental improvements over the outgoing X3 electric or the old Gen5 iX models. They’re a generational leap, and BMW’s first Neue Klasse product delivers on the hype that’s followed the platform since it was announced.
The value case is real, too. At $61,500, the iX3 undercuts the Genesis Electrified GV70’s $64,380 starting price while offering more range than most rivals in the segment, including the Tesla Model Y and Audi Q6 e-tron. Reservations are open now on BMW’s configurator with a $1,000 deposit, and U.S. deliveries begin September 25, 2026. Sport, M Sport, and M Sport Professional trims run from $61,500 to $65,500 before destination, and a cheaper 40 xDrive single-motor variant arrives in early 2027 under $55,000.
The interior is the other half of the pitch. BMW Panoramic iDrive puts a 17.9-inch central touchscreen next to a Panoramic display that spans the full width of the windshield, running on the new BMW Operating System X. It’s a bigger swing than anything BMW has tried in a cockpit before, and early impressions suggest it works better than the curved-display setup it replaces. European demand backs this up: BMW logged over 100,000 iX3 orders in six months, enough that the company added a second shift at its Debrecen plant ahead of schedule. If you’re shopping for an EV in this price range today, the iX3 is the BMW to actually order.
2. BMW i3: The Best BMW EV You Can’t Buy In America Yet
The i3 sedan is BMW’s second Neue Klasse product, and on paper it’s an even bigger deal than the iX3. It’s an electric 3 Series, built on the same Gen6 800-volt architecture, with the dual-motor i3 50 xDrive claiming up to 440 miles of EPA-equivalent range and 470 horsepower. BMW opened European order books for the i3 50 xDrive First Edition on June 18, months ahead of the originally planned fall launch, after demand reportedly outpaced even the iX3’s strong debut. Production starts in August at BMW’s Munich plant, with European deliveries following that autumn.
None of that helps you if you’re shopping in the United States right now. American order books for the i3 don’t open until 2027, so this entry is here on merit rather than availability. It’s worth knowing about because it will likely leapfrog the iX3 as BMW’s EV halo car once U.S. sales start, and because the First Edition undercutting math in Europe is telling: the First Edition starts at €75,340 in Germany, while the standard i3 50 xDrive follows later at €65,900, about €8,800 less than the equivalent iX3. When it does arrive stateside, expect it to compete directly on price with the iX3 while offering sedan proportions and, per BMW’s WLTP claims, even more range. For now, treat this as the one to watch, not the one to order.
3. BMW iX1: Not Sold In America, But The Value Argument Still Works
The iX1 doesn’t reach American shores at all, which is a shame, because in Europe it’s the cheapest way into a BMW EV by a wide margin. Pricing starts around €41,100 in Germany, or just over £43,000 in the UK, undercutting the iX3 by roughly $20,000. That’s the whole argument for this car.
Everything else about the iX1 shows its age next to the Neue Klasse cars above it. It rides on the older UKL2 platform, shared with the 1 Series, 2 Series Gran Coupe, and MINI Countryman, and the base eDrive20 model is front-wheel drive with a single 204-hp motor, a layout the iX3 and i3 have moved away from entirely. Range tops out around 287 miles WLTP on the front-drive version, and even the all-wheel-drive xDrive30 only nudges past that. Charging peaks at 130 kW, well short of the iX3’s 400 kW, meaning a 10-80% charge takes closer to half an hour. This is Gen5 BMW eDrive tech, not the cylindrical-cell, 800-volt hardware underneath the newer cars.
None of that makes the iX1 a bad car. It makes it a cheap one, and for a segment of buyers, that’s the whole point. If you can live with the range and charging speeds and just want a compact BMW SUV badge without spending iX3 money, the value is still there, assuming you’re shopping in a market where BMW actually sells it.
4. BMW i4 M60: The Old Guard, Still Worth Cross-Shopping
The i4 M60 is the last of BMW’s pre-Neue Klasse EVs still getting meaningful updates, and it remains the most fun to drive on this list. For 2026, BMW renamed the old M50 to M60 and bumped output to 510 horsepower standard, 593 hp in Sport mode, cutting the 0-60 sprint to 3.6 seconds. Pricing starts at $71,875 with destination included, and it’s available to order across most major markets right now, no waiting list required.
The catch is that this is still Gen5 hardware wearing a new badge. Range on the M60 tops out at 278 miles with 19-inch wheels, and drops to 232 miles if you go for the 20s, both well behind what the iX3 offers for less money. Charging is slower too, and the interior still runs the older curved-display setup rather than Panoramic iDrive.
What the M60 has going for it is everything the spec sheet doesn’t capture: BMW’s steering feel, chassis tuning, and the kind of driving dynamics that made the 4 Series worth caring about before it went electric. It’s also the model most likely to show up with real dealer incentives right now, since inventory is aging against the Neue Klasse cars stealing headlines. If driving character matters more to you than range numbers, and you can find one with money off sticker, the M60 still makes a case for itself.
Where This Leaves You
If you’re buying today and want the best all-around BMW EV, order the iX3. It’s not close. Everything else on this list is either not available where you live, running on older technology, or both, and the i3 is going to make this an even easier call once it reaches American dealers next year. Until then, the iX3 does the job the i3 will eventually take over, at a price that finally makes sense against the rest of the EV market.
First published by https://www.bmwblog.com
