Plug-in hybrid version of BMW’s 5 Series is well-placed to take sales away from its higher-end diesel siblings. Strong performance and handling with favourable running costs.

What is it?

This is the first plug-in hybrid 5 Series. It’s not the first hybrid 5 Series, that being the ActiveHybrid 5 available with the last-generation model range. Less than one percent of the 15,000 or so Fives BMW sells here yearly have been part-electric. The ActiveHybrid 5 was expensive, equipped with six cylinders and 302bhp, 149g/km CO2 performance to suit the US, which is why it made little ground here.

BMW hopes that will change, dramatically, with this new 530e iPerformance hybrid, which is a plug-in propelled by a 181bhp 2.0 litre TwinPower Turbo petrol engine and a 112bhp electric motor. The crucial difference lies in some key numbers: the 530e’s £44,765 list price is £770 more than for a 530d SE and £7405 more than for a 520d Efficient Dynamics, while its 46g/km CO2 emissions score it a 9% BIK rating compared to the 520d ED’s 23% and the 530d’s 26%. That’s vastly more competitive than for the ActiveHybrid 5 and enough, BMW thinks, to see it selling around 5000 plug-in 5 Series in a full year.

What’s it like?

Start your trip with a fully charged battery and it’s on electric power that you’ll initially travel unless you’ve heavy with the throttle, in which case the petrol engine momentarily assists.

The 9.2kWh lithium-ion battery will realistically allow a 22-mile range, and in near total silence, the only sound being the tyres’ hum. The car remains tranquil even when the petrol engine kicks in, although the four-pot produces a pleasing internal combustion rasp if you ask plenty of it. The transition from one to the other is tremor-free, as you’d expect, and it’s easy to forget that you’re in a hybrid car at all, the ‘Auto eDrive’ driving mode enabling the car to select the optimum mix of power sources depending on the driver’s demands and the terrain advice supplied by the sat-nav. And while it may be saving fuel, the 530e is not slow, breaking 62mph in 6.2sec: pretty rapid for a car that’s partly about economy.

This twin-engined zest is complemented by a lithe, confident chassis that delivers a supple and sophisticated ride that’s as pleasing as this car’s quiet agility. Only the steering lets it down, the weight at the rim feeling curiously mushy, although it points the car accurately. As always with hybrids, there’s diversion to be had from monitoring the car’s energy usage and the game of trying to see how far you can go on amperes alone.

Read more: Autocar

AS ELECTRIC cars become ever-more mainstream this BMW 530e is the latest example of new technology becoming normal.

BMW’s new plug-in hybrid version of the already-successful 5-Series could revolutionise the electronic market, especially among business drivers. Plug-in hybrid vehicles work by combining a petrol engine with an electric motor and battery.

That means the car can run on electric power for around 30 miles before the engine kicks in. Alternatively, both the engine and electric motor can work in tandem with the electric one running the car at lower speeds or under light acceleration, switching to or working with petrol when more performance is required.

It takes a sharp eye to even spot that this 530e is the plug-in hybrid version of BMW’s 5-Series saloon, introduced earlier this year. Only details like a blue tint to the grille, blue lining to the BMW badge on the alloy wheels and the eDrive logo on the rear door pillar, as well as the giveaway charge point flap behind the nearside front wheel, mark out this as the ultra-low emission 5-Series.

The plug-in hybrid takes the 5-Series to new efficiency levels, which isn’t surprising as it’s the first rechargeable one. The 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine and 83kw electric motor combine to produce 252bhp, returning an average fuel economy figure of 141.2mpg, though that number is entirely dependent on how much time the car runs on electric rather than petrol, and the emissions figure is 46g/km.

That’s important for company car drivers because anything below 50g/km means lower monthly tax bills. It is also eligible for a £2,500 government grant off the purchase price. The battery helps performance too, giving the 530e a 0 to 60mph acceleration of 6.2 seconds. It is electronically limited to 146mph.

There are three driving modes for how the battery and engine work. In the Auto eDrive setting, the car decides whether to use electric or petrol based on how hard the driver is pressing the accelerator and the car’s speed.

Below 60mph and when not accelerating too hard the battery is employed. Push harder or get to higher speeds and the car switches to petrol. It’s essentially like a regular hybrid, such as Toyota’s Prius.

Read more: Express

The Germans often stumbled during their first forays with plug-in hybrids. They were so fixated with not being the Toyota Prius, they overcompensated and stuffed big engines under the hood that weren’t all that efficient, even with electrified assistance. BMW in particular tried to convince the world hybrids were still enjoyable to drive.

To some extent they were, but BMW missed the point. Many consumers actually did want range and fuel economy, and Bimmer watched as its competitors rolled out efficient small displacement plug-in hybrids. With the 2018 530e iPerformance sedan, it looks like the company is finally getting it.

The sedan achieves up to 31 miles on electricity and the total range is claimed at 404 miles. Power comes from a 2.0-liter twin-scroll turbocharged four-cylinder with variable valve lift, which teams with an eDrive AC synchronous electric motor for a total output of 248 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque.

Perhaps the car’s coolest trick is its new wireless charging system, which BMW developed with Daimler-Benz. It will charge the battery at a rate of 3.2 kilowatt hours (one-third of total capacity) within 3.5 hours. With BMW Connected on the center screen, the car ‘sees’ the 2-foot square charging pad via a wireless network. The driver is guided with a set of blue lines on the screen over the pad with an accuracy of 2.8 inches from side to side and four inches from front to back.

Inside you’ll find a familiar 5 Series setup: austere, profoundly practical, and classy. Start her up and nothing happens except some wildly swinging needles in the instrument panel and enough blue light to think you’ve been transported to a Berlin nightclub. There’s an eDrive (displaying battery charge, range, etc.) on the right side and a simple speedo on the left.

There are several main modes of operation: auto eDrive, where the car chooses which power unit to use for maximum efficiency, with EV mode available up to 56 mph; max eDrive, where the car favors electric power with EV mode up to 87 mph; and battery control, where the gasoline engine will charge the battery pack and power the car.

It’s worth recalling that just over five years ago, BMW launched its first hybrid, the Active Hybrid 5, in which the engine was a 3.0-liter straight-six, the electric motor was a sort of volt-fueled supercharger and the realistic gas mileage didn’t approach the claimed sticker. Fast-forward half a decade, and the company is far more evolved and in-step with consumer tastes, as the 530e demonstrates. It isn’t brilliant to drive, but it does save gas. Munich engineers have finally gotten the point.

Read more: Auto Blog

BMW’s new 5 Series now offers no-compromise plug-in power.

On a cold, foggy morning in the Alps southeast of Munich, right along the Austrian border, I don’t notice any of the BMW 530e’s hybrid wizardry working. It’s there, silently and effortlessly and unobtrusively switching between gasoline and electric power. But seeing as how I can barely see ten feet in front of me at this point, with unexpected patches of snow and ice tugging at my confidence during high-altitude cornering, it’s safe to say my mind’s focus is elsewhere.

Down at sea level, on the flat, winding roads leading back toward Munich, I’m hustling along like I would in any other version of the fantastic new 5 Series. Like the 530i and 540i, this is an executive sedan that’s packed with luxury and an overwhelming amount of technology. And this 530e only enhances the experience with a bit more fuel economy, to boot. This is definitely the kind of hybrid driving that I could easily, um, plug in to.

Electric boost. The 530e mates a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine to an electric motor with a 9.2-kilowatt-hour battery. The gas engine itself is good for 180 horsepower and 255 pound-feet of torque, with the electic motor generating its own 111 hp and 184 lb-ft. BMW’s official combined system output ratings are 248 hp and 310 lb-ft, exactly like in the smaller 330e sedan. The 530e makes just as much horsepower as its gas-only sibling, but it has more torque – again, 310 lb-ft here, compared to 258 in the 530i. And because the electric oomph hits right from idle, the 530e and 530i run identical 0-60 times of six seconds flat with rear-wheel drive, despite the plug-in model carrying an extra 520 pounds of battery weight. The all-wheel-drive 530e xDrive shortens that sprint to 5.8 seconds – same as the 530i xDrive.

Increased range. When Jake Holmes earlier reviewed the 330e, he rightly pointed out that its 14 miles of electric range seems like enough for daily travels, but in reality – turn on the air conditioning or go heavy on the throttle a couple of times, and that alleged 14 miles is gone before you know it. Good thing, then, that the 530e uses a larger battery pack (9.2 kWh versus 7.6), which means it’ll do around 15% more EV driving, making it much more usable (on electricity) day to day.

Wireless charging. I’m still getting used to wireless charging for my iPhone, but BMW will soon allow drivers to wirelessly charge the entire car. Equip your home with one of BMW’s charging pads, drive the 530e over it, and juice up the battery without using the usual plug port. The details are still being finalized, but in the meantime, should you choose to use a conventional plug, the 530e will charge in less than three hours on a 240-volt (Level 2) outlet.

The only plug-in option in its class. Competitors like the Audi A6, Jaguar XF, and Mercedes-Benz E-Class don’t yet offer a hybrid alternative. What’s more, the base price of a 530e is only $200 more than a 530i, so it’s not out of reach for most would-be 5 Series buyers.

Read More: Inside EVs