The 2027 BMW i5: The Electric Car for People Who Don’t Want an Electric Car

Most electric cars are very eager to tell you they’re electric. They come with futuristic dashboards, spaceship sound effects, exterior styling that looks like it arrived from the year 2040, and enough screens to run air traffic control. The BMW i5 does almost none of that, and that restraint is the whole point. It’s a 5 Series that happens to run on electricity, and if you didn’t know better, you might not notice the difference until you drove past a gas station without stopping.

The i5 is BMW’s electric midsize luxury sedan, sharing its body, its cabin, and its fundamental character with the gas powered 5 Series. That’s a deliberate choice. While BMW’s new Neue Klasse EVs like the i3 and iX3 represent the brand’s electric future on a dedicated platform, the i5 represents something quieter: proof that an electric car can simply be a great luxury sedan without making a whole personality out of its powertrain.

The Lineup

The i5 comes in three flavors, and they climb a familiar ladder of power.

The eDrive40 is the entry point, using a single rear mounted motor to produce 335 horsepower. For 2027 it delivers up to 328 miles of EPA range with the smaller 19 inch wheels, which is a meaningful improvement we’ll come back to. It starts around $68,550.

The xDrive40 adds a second motor on the front axle for all wheel drive, bumping output to 389 horsepower and giving you surer footing in bad weather. Range slides depending on wheel choice, and pricing starts around $71,550. Most reviewers point to this as the sweet spot of the lineup, and I’m inclined to agree, since the modest premium buys real all weather confidence.

At the top sits the M60, a dual motor performance variant producing 593 horsepower, which is genuinely serious power that rivals BMW’s gas M badged sedans. Range drops because all that performance has to come from somewhere. This is the one for buyers who want their quiet luxury sedan to also be able to embarrass sports cars when the mood strikes.

Every i5 draws from an 84.3 kWh usable battery and charges at up to 205 kW, which BMW says adds 90 to 100 miles of range in about 10 minutes at a capable fast charger.

What Changed for 2027

The headline update this year is range, and BMW went about improving it the smart way. Rather than just adding a bigger, heavier battery, BMW improved the car’s efficiency. The result is a jump for the eDrive40 to that 328 mile figure, up about 18 miles from the prior year, with efficiency climbing to 116 MPGe. It’s the kind of behind the scenes engineering that doesn’t make headlines but genuinely improves the car.

The i5 gained this extra range right as the Tesla Model S exited the market. With the Model S discontinued, the i5 is positioned to pick up luxury sedan buyers who want a genuinely premium electric four door, and the improved range makes that case stronger while keeping the i5’s lower starting price relative to rivals like the Lucid Air.

The other significant change involves charging. For 2027, every i5 gets a native NACS port, giving the whole lineup direct access to Tesla’s Supercharger network without an adapter. In the prior year only the M60 had the native port while the other trims relied on an adapter, so this is a genuine convenience upgrade across the board. CCS adapters are included as well, so you can still charge at the older style stations too. Supercharger access matters enormously for road trip convenience, since it’s the largest and most reliable fast charging network in the country.

What It’s Like

Here’s where the i5 earns its keep. One reviewer described the M60 as a luxury sport sedan that just happens to be electric, and that captures the whole car. It’s quiet, the ride is excellent, and the styling is low key enough that it blends into everyday traffic right up until the moment you show everyone your taillights. The i5 doesn’t force the compromises that high performance sedans usually demand. You get the speed without the harshness, the technology without the gimmicks, and the electric efficiency without the spaceship theatrics.

The cabin is classic modern BMW, anchored by the curved display running the latest iDrive, with EV specific route planning and charging station integration built in. It’s a genuinely luxurious space, comfortable and beautifully built, and it feels every bit as premium as you’d expect from a BMW in this price range.

The driving experience is the payoff. Reviewers consistently praise how the i5 delivers BMW’s traditional driving character in electric form. It’s composed, it’s quick, and it handles the way a BMW sedan should, which is to say it’s genuinely engaging to drive rather than merely fast in a straight line. That’s harder to achieve than the spec sheet suggests, and it’s where BMW’s decades of sedan expertise really show.

The Trade Offs

No car is without compromises, and the i5 has a few worth naming. The range figures, while improved, still sit on the lower end among its peers, especially in the M60 and on the larger wheels. If maximum range is your single priority, some rivals go further on a charge.

The interior, for all its quality, moves most climate and secondary controls into the touchscreen, which some drivers find less intuitive than physical buttons. Competitors like Mercedes and Audi retain more physical controls, and whether that bothers you comes down to personal preference. And in a small practical note, there’s no frunk on any trim, so you won’t get that extra front storage cubby some EVs offer.

These are minor quibbles rather than dealbreakers, but they’re the cost of entry.

Where I Land

The i5 is the electric car for people who aren’t sure they want an electric car. Someone who loves the 5 Series and wants that exact experience without the gas. Someone who values a quiet, beautifully built luxury sedan over a rolling technology demonstration. Someone who wants to go electric without their car announcing it to everyone at every stoplight.

In my opinion, that’s a genuinely appealing proposition, and it’s one BMW is uniquely positioned to offer. The i5 doesn’t try to reinvent the automobile or convince you that driving has fundamentally changed. It just takes one of the best luxury sport sedans on the market and makes it electric, preserving everything that made the 5 Series great while quietly removing the trips to the gas station. For a lot of buyers, especially those stepping into their first EV from a lifetime of BMWs, that familiarity is exactly what makes the leap feel easy.

It’s not the flashiest electric sedan you can buy, and it’s not the longest range. It might just be the most convincingly normal, in the best possible way. Sometimes the most impressive thing an electric car can do is make you forget it’s electric at all.

*EV Rob writes about electric vehicles, automotive technology, and the future of transportation at The Wonderful World of EVs.*