Future BMW Electric Cars Will Have Bidirectional Charging

The Neue Klasse will be BMW's long-awaited dedicated electric car platform when it debuts next year with an SUV. Previewed today by the Vision Neue Klasse X concept, the architecture is bringing a handy feature that other automakers have had for years. Better late than never, the new wave of EVs with the famous white and blue roundel will support bidirectional charging.

That means the future iX3 SUV (2025) and i3 sedan (2026) will double as power banks to juice up your house, appliances, e-bikes, camping gear, and other products. While luxury automakers tend to charge (pun intended) you for just about everything, bidirectional charging is going to be standard on Neue Klasse-based models. Functions such as Vehicle to Home, Vehicle to Grid, and Vehicle to Load will all be supported without having to pay more.

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While the current EVs and PHEVs use batteries with prismatic cells, the next wave of batteries will switch to round cells. BMW estimates that charging speed and range will increase by 30 percent, while energy density is going up by 20 percent. These sixth-generation batteries will power your toaster and whatnot.

BMW intends to roll out bidirectional charging in three stages, kicking off with Vehicle to Home for your household. Vehicle to Grid will follow, allowing the car's owner to feed the stored energy back into the network but only in countries where legislation allows it. Vehicle to Load will power external electrical equipment. Interestingly, the German luxury marque doesn't say anything about Vehicle to Vehicle to provide energy to another Neue Klasse EV.

After the launch of the iX3 and i3, BMW intends to launch at least four more models on the same underpinnings by 2028. By the end of the decade, the Munich-based marque projects more than half of its global annual sales will be represented by EVs. In the early 2030s, Mini and Rolls-Royce will go completely electric.