Per BMW’s slogan, you have the “power of choice” when it comes to buying a new car from the Bavarian brand. Many models offer options for gasoline, diesel, plug-in hybrid, and electric drivetrains, including the flagship. Depending on your location, the 7 Series Sedan is available with a vast array of engines or motors. But which variant is cheaper to run?
The Australian team at CarExpert decided to take matters into their own hands and set up an efficiency test between a gas version and an electric counterpart. They opted for a 740i and the mighty i7 M70. While some might argue it would have made more sense to use the i7 xDrive60 instead, since it’s more frugal, this is the model the journalists had available at the time of filming.
CarExpert’s Paul Maric drove the much heavier i7 M70 while YouTuber Joe Achilles sat behind the wheel of the 740i. The duo drove from Sydney to Melbourne, covering 542 miles or 873 kilometers. After completing the journey, it was math time. They crunched the numbers and concluded the gasoline car was about $14 cheaper to run. Mind you, that’s Australian dollars.
The 740i burned 56.16 liters (14.8 gallons) of fuel while the i7 M70 consumed 203.03 kWh from its massive battery pack that has a usable capacity of 101.7 kWh. Even though the electric sedan put some juice back into the battery thanks to the energy recuperation system, it was the gas model’s efficiency that impressed. It averaged 6.6 liters / 100 km, which works out to 35.6 miles per gallon (42.8 mpg UK). Not too shabby for such a large and heavy car.
Then there’s the refueling time. The BMW 7 Series 740i took just six minutes to put gasoline in the tank while the i7 M70 needed two hours and eight minutes.
We also mustn’t omit the huge price gap between the two, even though they’re basically the same cars, just with different powertrains. In the United States, a base 740i retails for $96,400 (or $99,400 for the 740i xDrive) whereas the i7 M70 costs from $168,500.
Source: CarExpert / YouTube