The right BMW i4 charging cable is the same whichever badge is on the boot: every i4 sold in the UK since November 2021, eDrive35, eDrive40, xDrive40, M50 or M60 xDrive, has an 11 kW onboard AC charger and a Type 2 inlet on the offside rear wing, so one Type 2 to Type 2 Charging Cable covers the whole range, and on a home wallbox each of them draws 7.4 kW. BMW UK's technical data gives 11 kW as the maximum AC figure for the current M60 and eDrive40, and BMW's launch material for the 2024 update says the same for the whole range. No i4 has ever been offered with a faster onboard charger, so there is no box on the order form, in any model year, that changes the answer below.

Which BMW i4 charging cable to buy for home charging

Full speed on a home wallbox: the 32A single phase cable. The option menu calls it 32amp (7.2kW); in practice it carries 7.4 kW, which is the ceiling for a house on one phase and therefore the most an i4 will ever draw from a home charger on a driveway, and it suits every socketed home EV charger sold in the UK. An 81.3 kWh eDrive40 goes from flat to full in 12 hours 30 minutes and gains about 34 miles for each hour connected. Works, but no quicker on a house supply: the 32A three phase cable. Sold as 32amp - 3 Phase (22kW), its price is the highest on this page and the i4 can only ever use half of it. On a household wallbox two of its three live cores sit idle and the car still sees 7.4 kW. It earns its keep on one kind of three phase supply only, a fast charging AC post at an office or a car park, where the i4 reaches its 11 kW limit and the eDrive40 finishes in 8 hours 15 minutes. With the 22 kW charger never fitted to an i4, that is the whole case for it. Too slow for this battery: the 16A cable. The menu lists it as 16amp (3.6kW), and it pins an i4 at 3.7 kW, which stretches an eDrive40 to 24 hours 45 minutes and an eDrive35 to 20 hours 30 minutes. A seven hour overnight off peak tariff returns roughly 119 miles through the 16A lead against 238 miles through the 32A, so on an i4 the cheaper cable means paying the daytime electricity rate for a third of your driving.

Length comes down to the flap. BMW fits the i4 charging port on the rear wing on the driver's side, and the Gran Coupe body is 4.78 metres from nose to tail, a long electric car by the standards of most driveways. Reverse onto the drive with the wallbox mounted on that side of the house and the 5 metre cable arrives with a loop of slack. Drive in forwards and the socket is now the best part of five metres further from the wall than the front bumper, which is what the 10 metre version is for; it also covers a wallbox on the opposite side of the car or round the corner of the house. The 15 metre and 20 metre cables, made in 32A single phase only, are for a garage set back from the house, an allocated bay in a shared car park, or a post at the kerb outside a terrace. A long cable costs more and weighs more, but it is the only safe answer to distance: a Type 2 cable is never extended with a second lead.

Our Type 2 to 3-Pin Charging Cable, the Mode 2 lead most owners know as a granny charger, plugs into an ordinary 13 amp socket or outdoor outlet and, listed as 6amp - 12amp Adjustable (2.3kW), delivers 2.3 kW, about 11 miles of range an hour on an i4. On a battery of this size it is not a way of filling the car: 40 hours from empty on an eDrive40 and 33 hours on an eDrive35. What it does is turn a night at a house with no charger into 75 miles or so of range by morning, and keep an i4 usable while a wallbox is being installed or repaired, which is why it makes sense as a spare even for an owner with a home charger on the wall. It has a Type B RCD in the control box, can be dialled down from 12 amps to 6 for an older ring main, and is IP67 sealed so it can sit outside in the rain.

BMW UK now describes its own Flexible Charging Cable for a 3 pin socket as an optional extra on the i4 and makes no standard equipment promise about a Type 2 lead for a wallbox. UK owners' reports vary by build year and dealer, with some cars delivered with a BMW Mode 3 cable in the boot and others with nothing at all, so check before the installer arrives, especially on a used car. The 5 Series equivalent is covered on the BMW i5 charging cable page, and every lead for the marque is listed under BMW EV charging cables. On sealing, the Type 2 to Type 2 is IP55 rated and works between -30C and +50C, while the 3-Pin is IP67 rated and works between -30C and +60C. The Type 2 to Type 2 meets IEC 62196-2, with CE marking behind it; the 3-Pin meets IEC 62752 and is CE marked. Both come from EV Cable Shop with a 2 year manufacturer's warranty; UK delivery is free and arrives next working day, and either cable can go back within 30 days at no cost.

BMW i4 Charging Times by Battery

eDrive40, xDrive40 and M60 xDrive, 81.3 kWh usable, up to 377 miles WLTP electric range on the eDrive40

Maximum onboard AC charging speed: 11 kW three phase, 7.4 kW single phase

eDrive35, 67 kWh usable, up to 311 miles WLTP

Maximum onboard AC charging speed: 11 kW three phase, 7.4 kW single phase

The eDrive40 and M50 built between November 2021 and May 2024 carry 80.7 kWh usable, so they finish about 15 minutes sooner than the first table shows. The 377 mile figure is the eDrive40 Sport on its standard wheel size; BMW UK quotes up to 338 miles of electric range for the M60 xDrive and about 316 for the pre-2024 M50, which drops their range per hour to roughly 31 and 29 miles on the 32A cable, and larger optional wheels take a little more off every version. Expect fewer miles per hour in January and on a long motorway run, as with any electric vehicle.