Electrified Efficiency
BMW got into electric vehicles early with the now-discontinued i3. It was an exciting vehicle at the time, but electric vehicles have since become more mainstream, and the bar for what's cutting edge is much higher. Today, BMW produces four all-electric models compared to eight from Audi. But there's more to the Audi electric lineup than just a wider selection. Performance is one of these factors, with the SQ8 e-tron, SQ8 Sportback e-tron, e-tron GT, and RS e-tron GT all offering serious performance capability. The iX sits at the top of the BMW electric range in terms of performance and is half a second slower to 60 MPH than the RS e-tron GT.
BMW, as well as every other electric car maker, lags behind Audi in terms of charging technology. To use the BMW iX as an example again, the DC fast charging rate is 195 kW. That's a pretty average rate across the industry, but Audi doesn't do average. That's why the e-tron GT comes with a fast charging rate of 270 kW, well above average, and matched only by those other Audi/Porsche models that use the same EV architecture.
