The BMW i7 Protection is an armoured version of their flagship limo, but what’s the range?
BMW may not have been the first to market with an electric vehicle, but it’s now quite possibly the first with an armoured electric full-sized sedan, the BMW i7 Protection. It was announced today alongside the standard 7 Series Protection model with a petrol engine, but we thought we’d highlight this EV as it’s possibly the first to market directly from the manufacturer.
The BMW i7 Protection adds layers of customised armour to stop conventional firearms and explosives from harming its occupants. It is certified as for class VR9 protection by Germany’s VPAM test lab, which sets the guidelines for bullet, blast and explosive resistant vehicles. The glass on the BMW i7 Protection is so tough, it can stop large caliber 7.62×54 R ammunition used in high-powered sniper rifles. There’s even an option to extend this level of bulletproofing to other defined bodywork areas.
To achieve this level of protection, the first layer is the BMW Protection Core, which adds armoured hot-formed steel alloys to the body construction for the first time in BMW’s 45-year legacy of armoured vehicles. The roof and underbody get additional armouring to protect against explosives to stop drone and IED attacks. There are also 20″ light alloy wheels wrapped in wider PAX tyres which are engineered to hold more air. These tyres have a runflat ring on the wheel rim which allow the car to keep driving at up to 80km/h even with total loss of pressure.
BMW has also fitted Integral Active Steering to these models. This is essentially rear-wheel steering, but what’s special is that it’s the first time Active Steering is being offered as standard in this armoured vehicle niche.
Unfortunately, BMW did not disclose this vehicle’s range. The BMW i7 Protection is after all an electric vehicle that must weigh quite a bit more thanks to all the added steel and equipment. What we do know is that it gets its dual electric motors from the BMW i7 M70 xDrive. There, power consumption is rated at 23.7-20.8 kWh/100km. On this i7 Protection, power consumption is estimated to be 30kWh/100km. Assuming the battery pack’s capacity is kept constant, we could see a maximum range of under 400km. What’s more, the 0-100km/h time and top speed suffer too. Here it takes 9 seconds to complete the century sprint and goes only as fast as 160km/h. The i7 M70 xDrive does 0-100km/h in 3.7 seconds and has a 250km/h top speed.
We’ll have to wait until more details come out at IAA Mobility 2023 in Munich this September.
