What's the news?
BMW is readying its super-frugal version of the ever-popular X5 SUV for production, by showing us a 'concept' for the New York International Auto Show this month. The Concept X5 eDrive is a plug-in hybrid variant of the big off-roader, and it's clearly near to going on sale as we actually drove pre-production models back in March.
Exterior
Fairly familiar metal here but there are some giveaways that this is the 'green' X5, and conversely they're to do with the colour blue. Actually, it's not that odd as this is the corporate colour for BMW's super-eco 'i' brand of cars. So the kidney grille and air intake bars, plus the insert in the rear bumper, are all picked out in blue to contrast with the Silverflake metallic paint. The Concept X5 eDrive has body-coloured wheelarches, its own style of roof rails, a connector for the charging cable (which lights up blue during charging, as on i-models) and 21-inch light alloy streamlined wheels in an exclusive design.
Interior
Tying in with the outside, there's light blue stitching in the Ivory White leather on the seats, door cards and dashboard. The interior has Piano Black trim with blue accent strips, 'eDrive' badging on the headrests, blue ambient lighting and an eDrive button illuminated in, yep, you guessed it, blue. Behind the passengers, a blue-lit transparent cover lets you see the high-voltage lithium ion battery for the electric motor.
Mechanicals
There have been a few tweaks to the tech since our drive in March, but the broad strokes are largely the same. So there's a 245hp four-cylinder TwinPower Turbo petrol engine up front with a 70kW (95hp) electric motor adding additional oomph. You can still cover approximately 20 miles on electric power alone and the top speed in this mode is 75mph. An overall economy figure of 74.3mpg is remarkable for something of this size and aerodynamic recalcitrance.
There's a BMW Driving Experience Control switch as on 'regular' BMs, but also three more driving modes - Auto eDrive, Max eDrive and Save Battery, all of which determine how much electric power you're using according to your preference. BMW also claims that the Concept X5 eDrive is as practical as any other version of its biggest SUV, thanks to the battery being housed under the almost-flat boot floor.
Anything else?
Like the i-cars, the ConnectedDrive function in the navigation will assist planning journeys so that you can maximise the amount of time spent driving on electric power alone. It uses intelligent connectivity to map traffic conditions, route profiles and your driving style to try and eke as much juice out of the battery as possible by redirecting you where necessary.
Matt Robinson - 15 Apr 2014
