Official EPA Figures Posted For 2018 BMW 530e & 530e xDrive, Up To 16 Miles Range

Official EPA ratings have been posted for both the 2018 BMW 530e and the 2018 BMW 530 xDrive.

As a quick refresher, the 530e starts at $51,400 plus destination, while the xDrive version checks in at $53,700 plus destination. Both come equipped with a 9.4 kWh battery pack (additional details here).

Now onto the numbers.

In the MPG category, the 530e returns the following:

• City - 27
• Highway - 31
• Combined -  29

Meanwhile the 530e xDrive gets almost identical ratings for MPG:

• City - 27
• Highway - 31
• Combined - 28

See EPA data sheet below:

In the ever more important electric range ratings, the 530e gets a combined electric range of 16, while the 530e xDrive returns 15 miles. Like most all plug-in hybrids, the EPA scores the all-electric range at as low as 0, which indicates that the vehicles allows the engine to fire in certain situations, thus effectively making the electric range a variable number that can't always be directly controlled by the driver.

MPGe stands at 72 for the 530e, and 67 for the xDrive version.

Regardless of what thinks of the 530e's efforts on electricity, BMW has priced the pair at the very low end of the 5 series range, with the 530e starting at just $1,200 more than the base model ($51,400 vs $50,200 for the 528i); meaning that once one factors in the federal credit ($4,668)...it is actually cheaper to own a BMW 5 series with a plug than not.

Our expectations are therefore for the 530e and 530e xDrive to be very strong sellers inside BMW's lineup once they are stocked.  To that end, 239 copies were sold in the US in the BMW's 2nd full month on the market.  The potential ceiling is, of course, much higher.

We should note that the new 530e gets up to 33% more range than the just released (and rated) Mini Countryman PHEV, and its ~12 mile range - details.

The EPA chart below contains additional information on MPGe, CO2, total range and more.

And what that data looks like after being simplified for the public EPA site:

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