BMW’s powerful 230e Active Tourer PHEV isn’t coming to Singapore – but here’s why it’s significant to us anyway

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Malaga, Spain –

BMW’s popular 2 Series Active Tourer (2AT) MPV is definitely coming to Singapore with a gasoline-only version, namely the 218i. It is definitely not coming to Singapore in its most powerful form, that is, the 230e plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV).

So why are we driving the 230e? In many ways, the 230e is an exciting harbinger. 

Firstly, BMW wants to prove to us that its electric drive technology works no matter where it puts it, and second, just because the 230e isn’t coming here doesn’t mean small, electrified BMWs as a whole aren’t either. And thirdly, the 230e has 326hp and is rear-wheel drive capable – so it’s (rather perversely) the antithesis of a 2AT which, if you’ll remember, was BMW’s first MPV, and first front-wheel drive car.

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The 230e is the range-topper for the 2AT overseas and it marks a split from the usual PHEVs we’ve seen. 

The old way: Chuck a battery in the boot, integrate a motor into the transmission, have around 20km of range, boom, PHEV.

Not so the 230e: With the 2AT running on BMW’s newer FAAR platform, its 14.2kWh battery is in the floor of the car, with the motor/power electronics in the boot – this means reducing boot space slightly, but it’s the same as the 223i. Naturally with this sort of setup, you have all-wheel drive with the electric motor driving the rear axle – like the first 225xe the motor also drove the rear wheels, but the battery was in the boot.

But that’s not all – since the PHEV is capable of a considerable 90km of electric range, in many instances you’d be driving the 230e as a rear-wheel drive car. And that does seem to make a difference, in our sampling of the three models – 220i, 223i, 230e – it was the latter that was the most fun to drive, despite being the heaviest.

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In the tight confines of the seaside town of Fuengirola, that essential RWD feeling and pointability was enjoyable, but as we rolled onto the highway, the combined output of the engine and motor meant for plentiful thrust – the car does 0-100km/h in only 5.5 seconds. But get this: the 176hp motor is more powerful than the engine, which makes 150hp.

Ascending yet again into the hills outside Malaga, that plentiful grunt was very welcome, though we couldn’t test it to the full extent since our 230e was driven in convoy, the result of being a semi-final prototype.

The more interesting thing Is this: It seems an exceptionally efficient PHEV. BMW claims ‘up to 90km’ on a charge, and we left the start point with 76km, covered 49 km on the road, and returned with 48km left on the battery. Granted, we left the car in its default hybrid mode supplemented by the engine, but this is also BMW’s fifth-gen electric drive tech at work.

More important is what this means for future, small electric BMWs which we know will certainly come to Singapore. BMW quotes an average energy efficiency of around 18kWh/100km for the 230e. If we extrapolate this to an expected BMW iX1, with say, a battery size of 60kWh, that would equate to a range of 330km. And as we know from the iX and iX3, BMW’s Gen5 EV cars are able to better their quoted figures with relative ease.

At the very least, it shows BMW’s premise of a scalable electric drive architecture really does seem to work, wherever the application, and more importantly, its first fully-electric small cars – say an iX1 – will be extremely range efficient.

BMW 230e Active Tourer M Sport 

Drivetrain	Petrol-electric plug-in hybrid
Engine	1,499cc, inline 3, turbocharged
Power	150hp at unknown rpm
Torque	230Nm at unknown rpm
Gearbox	7-speed dual-clutch
Electric Motor	176hp / 247Nm
Battery (net)	Lithium ion / 14.2kWh
System Power / Torque	326hp / 477Nm
Top Speed	TBC
0-100km/h	5.5 seconds
Fuel Efficiency	1.3L/100km
Charging Time / Type	TBC
Electric Range	90km
VES	TBC
Agent	Performance Motors Limited
Price	TBC
Availability	Not for Singapore

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