How my electric switch helped me buy a BMW

How BMW Finance makes going electric easy

BMW Finance offers a wealth of smart simple ways to help you figure out the costs of making the electric switch with BMW – saving you time and effort, and ultimately making financing an electric BMW even easier.[2]

You can browse and personalise quotes from a range of flexible tailored finance solutions and manage your finance online from the comfort of home, while BMW Select’s (Personal Contract Purchase) Guaranteed Future Value gives you full peace of mind by letting you know what your electric BMW will be worth at the end of your agreement. BMW can even help you finance the cost of an EV home charger, or help you insure your electric vehicle with BMW Flex Car Insurance.

The convenience of home charging

BMW’s comprehensive fast-growing line-up of all-electric saloons, estates and SUVs all offer plenty of range: from the sporty BMW iX2 SUV coupé which offers up to 283 miles (WLTP)[1] – enough to get you from Birmingham to Bristol and back on one charge – to the BMW i7, which offers up to 387 miles (WLTP)[1]. That could get you from London to the Lake District on one charge.

It’s not just how much range you have that matters, though. It’s how you use it. And that’s where we all need to rethink range, because most of the time – as James’ 50-mile commute in his BMW iX3 shows – we don’t drive as far as we think. 

In fact, the typical daily mileage for the average UK driver is at most somewhere between 20 to 40 miles[3]. So, any of BMW’s all-electric models could easily cover a healthy batch of days doing work commutes, school runs, trips to the shops, or evenings out with family and friends without needing to use public chargers.

Equally, since most journeys start and end at home, you can take advantage of the fact that your car will spend a large portion of its time parked up – particularly overnight when you’re not using it. That’s perfect for home charging on lower-cost overnight energy rates that let you start every journey each morning with maximum range at the lowest possible cost, with minimum time and effort. 

The benefit of home charging – both in terms of money and ease – was the main tipping point for James to think seriously about going electric. “I thought, you know what: let’s give it a go. Let’s see what it’s all about,” he explains. “All I had to do was install a home charger, add to that an EV tariff. The BMW takes the information from both the charger and the energy supplier. And it was seamless. It worked first time, no problems at all.” 

How BMW tech makes it all easy 

BMW has also focused on how always-online connected technology can make charging even easier and smarter – both at home and on-the-move. It’s all thanks to the always-online connectivity of all electric BMWs, which let you interact seamlessly with your vehicle remotely using the My BMW App on your smartphone. 

That means you can view your battery’s range and your car’s charging status from anywhere – whether it’s from the comfort of your sofa when your car is plugged into a home charger, or while you’re grabbing a coffee while your car is plugged into a public charger. It helps you control the time and cost spent charging[4]. 

You can even pre-condition your car’s interior while it’s plugged in and charging, meaning you don’t waste a minute of your time or any valuable range to ensure your car is at the right temperature – cool or warm – for the next leg of your journey.

Ultimately, it all adds up to making going electric even easier. And, as James has found, more cost-effective, too. “I'd never looked at BMW as an option for me,” he says. “But because it’s an electric car, the saving that I’m making on the fuel means I can afford to put myself in this car. I didn't think that I'd be in one of those cars one day. But here we are now.”[1]

Learn more about BMW’s electric line-up