BMW unveiled the facelifted 2027 i7 on April 22, 2026, at events in New York’s Grand Central Terminal and Beijing’s Auto China. The luxury electric sedan packs Rimac-built batteries. Rare-earth-free motors. And a pivot away from hands-off highway driving. Executives called it “one of the brand’s most significant reveals in a generation,” according to the official press release at BMW Group PressClub . Start with the battery. BMW’s sixth-generation cylindrical cells—4695 format, 46mm diameter, 95mm tall—come from a partnership with Croatia’s Rimac Technology. These replace prismatic Gen5 cells. Volumetric energy density jumps 20%. Usable capacity in the i7 60 xDrive climbs to 112.5 kWh from 101.7 kWh. Pack size stays the same. Rimac runs production lines near Zagreb, shipping assemblies to BMW’s Dingolfing plant. And they use renewable energy with recycled lithium, cobalt, nickel—slashing CO2 footprint by 33%, as detailed in The Next Web .…