ELECTRIC AVENUE

BMW is driving its way to an electro mobility future. We get a taste of it with its range of iPe ormance Vehicles

ONE DAY IN the future, we’ll be using our phones to charge our cars. Although the reality of that may seem too farfetched, eventually the human race will get there. We have to, for the sake of our future, and because fossil fuels are polluting and finite. Like it or not, in decades to come we won’t be pulling up at a gas station anymore to fill up our cars.

It’s a goal that many countries are heading towards. UK already is looking to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars in 2040 with Germany looking to do the same ten years earlier. India wants to get all its vehicles switched to battery power in 12 years. For the most part, the world seems to be on the same page when it comes to electric mobility and several car manufacturers are already on the case.

BMW for one is a few steps ahead and is one of the first to the electric party. The German manufacturer started the ball rolling with its all-electric i3 and i8 models and it’s already the most successful premium hybrid brand on our shores. To reinforce its position as one of the pioneers of Malaysia’s electro mobility future, BMW showed its hand with its iPerformance Drive 2018 experiential driving programme.

The Hybrid Heroes

Although it was a drive programme designed to showcase the abilities of its hybrid models, the BMW iPerformance Drive 2018 was not without its element of fun. With an extended route that took drivers on trunk roads in Selangor and Perak, the programme was tailor made to show the best attributes of BMW’s plug-in hybrid range.

Getting behind the wheel of the 330e M Sport, 530e Sport, X5 xDrive40e M Sport and 740Le xDrive, BMW provided just a taster on what its efficient luxury models could do. With a packed schedule and two drivers to a car, the drive experience would only last for around 50-70km per route. This left us with just a limited time frame to get to know each