Another console button guides the BMW through familiar Eco Pro, Comfort and Sport settings. “Sport” reconfigures driver’s gauges and maintains the engine running at all times. In spite of its heft, and standard all-season, run-flat tires, this 5-Series shown to be highly competent of setting a fast pace on country roads.
The majority of the extra battery mass is carried rearward and below the floor, a boon to handling. Steering is in the call for of more driver advice. The level of hybrid regenerative braking is also well-chosen for a BMW—you can lift off throttle and coast on the highway without an abrupt deceleration.
Fuel savings become green icing on the financial cake, with the extra benefit of conserving fuel and emitting less C02 and other pollution. It’s the same for BMW’s other new plug-ins, including pleasingly priced versions of the 3-Series and 7-Series sedan and X5 SUV. Together, they suggest that BMW’s trumpeted, global push in electrified cars—as well as a dozen new all-electric models by 2025—is more than marketing hype.
The gasoline-only 530i is already America’s most fuel-efficient (non-hybrid) midsize luxury sedan, at 24/34 mpg in city and highway, or 27 mpg combined. The hybrid 530e gives a mere 2-mpg gain in hybrid gasoline economy, at 29 mpg. The EPA figures the 530e owner will save $350 a year against his neighbor with the 530i.
As with any plug-in hybrid, your mileage will vary, largely based on daily driving schedules. Yet although the 530e never comes within sniffing distance of a charger, you’re looking at a 5-Series that will move toward or top 30 mpg.
Tuck BMW’s baby in for a nightly charge, add in those bonus electric miles, and overall efficiency will soar. For one example, a 32-mile daily commute, half on electricity (at 72 mpge) and half on gasoline (at 29 mpg), will result in a Prius-like 50 mpg. Within a year or so, a wireless charging system, developed with Daimler-Benz, should let owners park atop a charging pad to juice the 530e, cutting the cord entirely.
That seems appropriate: Unlike most hybrids, the BMW doesn’t make you reach for your wallet to pay for its technology. Soon enough, you won’t need to lift a finger to charge it.
