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Hot on the heels of the new Range Rover Hybrid, BMW has revealed the Concept5 X5 eDrive plug-in hybrid. Clearly hybrid SUVs are in season.
Unlike the Range Rover the X5 eDrive is just a concept, in this instance destined for the Frankfurt Motor Show next month. Electric range is 19 miles at speeds of up to 75mph, courtesy of a 95hp electric motor. Once the battery is depleted, one of BMW’s more conventional four-cylinder TwinPower Turbo takes the strain.
Working simultaneously, the electric motor and engine give the X5 eDrive sharp throttle response at any speed, due to the instantaneous torque inherent in electric motors.
BMW says that the Concept5 X5 eDrive returns 74.3mpg and carbon dioxide emissions fewer than 90g/km on the official European test cycle. Currently, the most fuel efficient X5 that BMW sells returns a combined 45.6mpg. That’s some improvement, then.
As is the norm for plug-in hybrids, electric charge can be set aside for use later on in a journey. This feature will presumably allow hypothetical X5 eDrive owners to arrive at their destination – perhaps hundreds of miles from home – pretending that the entire journey was undertaken on electric power alone. BMW call this mode ‘Safe Battery’.
Apart from tasteful blue highlights, aesthetically the concept is left mostly unchanged from the current production X5. The only notable difference is the plug socket behind the front wheel arch and aerodynamically-optimised light alloy wheels. Aerodynamically-optimised or not, they look the business.
BMW unsurprisingly maintains that the Concept5 X5 eDrive is just a concept at this stage, but will gauge opinion when the car is unveiled at Frankfurt. Were the car to get the green light for production it would be BMW’s first plug-in hybrid and a stepping stone between cars the BMW ActiveHybrid models and the new BMW i cars.
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