TESTED 25.10.23, HAMPSHIRE ON SALE NOW - BMW i5 eDRIVE40

First of the G60-generation 5 Series variants to arrive here is a fully electric one

- MATT SAUNDERS

The UK is driving BMW's transition to battery power. While the firm's global sales mix will be only 15% fully electric by volume this year, our market will be at 25%, and while BMW's target is for 50% of its global sales to be of EVs by 2030, we're on course to be at 80%.

Ironically enough, while the first ever electric 5 Series variant, the i5 - which has now arrived here will be critical to maintaining the momentum, it might not be BMW's real breakthrough electric moment.

The firm's Neue Klasse EVs (an electric 3 Series is set to be among them) are still at least two years away, but when they do reach market, they're set to bring some transformative gains on battery energy density, motor efficiency and DC rapid-charging speed.

If I were BMW, I might not be talking about those gains quite so loudly at this stage, for fear of stalling the interim sales progress.

There is, in any case, a sense of real completeness about the new i5 that allows it to assume the 5 Series' familiar mantle quite comfortably, because 'the 5er' is, and for seven model generations now has been, the BMW that can do everything.

Yes, this one is expensive. Yes, it's crammed with new-age digital cabin technology, which tends to dominate the driving experience somewhat. And yes, it's even a bit funny-looking: blocky and chunky in profile, with quite a high bonnet and bootlid - although BMW's stylists have done their best to disguise the issue using darkened lower bodywork to trick the eye.