BMW Ireland has announced pricing for the new i3 electric saloon, a battery powered car capable — on paper — of covering 900km on a single charge. Arriving in Ireland in the autumn, the i3 will make its debut with a 50 xDrive First Edition model, which will be priced from €72,855. However, that First Edition is a ritzy, highly-specified model meant to introduce the car with its best foot forward. A standard i3 50 xDrive will have a price tag of €66,685. That will get you a four-wheel drive electric sports saloon, with 469hp, the ability to sprint to 100km/h in just 4.7 seconds, and yet which has official energy consumption as low as 13.4kWh/100km, which is how it can squeeze that official 906km from its 108kWh battery. Real-world experience on Irish roads with the closely related iX3 SUV — taller, bulkier, and heavier than the i3 — suggests that the saloon should go for at least 750km before you’ll need to charge it up again. When you do, it charges quickly with up to 400kW of DC charging power, meaning a 10-80 per cent top-up in less than 20 minutes and up to 423km of range to be added in just ten minutes (assuming you can find a 400kW charger) while the i3 can also charge briskly from kerbside chargers, as it can cope with up to 22kW of AC power. The Munich company could do with a big sales success. In its most recent financial results, it warned that profit margins are coming under intense pressure thanks to a slowdown in Chinese sales. Significantly, the i3 will be hitting the Irish market with a lower price than its main competition, the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class. The new C-Class - which sports somewhat controversial styling that starts with a massive, retro-themed grille at the front, and ends with a sleek rear featuring brake lights inset with prominent Mercedes three-pointed stars - will have a starting price of €72,990 when it goes on sale in the last quarter of this year, or €78,990 for the popular AMG-Line specification. For that money you will get the C400 4MATIC which has two motors, four-wheel drive, and a 94kWh battery giving it a range of up to 762km on one charge. Mercedes claims average energy use of 15kWh/100km, and the C-Class gets Merc’s new 800-volt fast-charging system, which in theory allows you to top up the battery to the tune of 325km of fresh range in just 10 minutes’ charging, assuming you can locate a DC fast charger capable of meeting the C-Class’ 330kW charging speed. Both cars will, in due course, be joined by more affordable single-motor variants. In the BMW’s case that will probably mean a smaller battery and less range; in the Mercedes’ case, the single-motor C-Class will likely keep the same battery pack and offer an 800km+ range thanks to less weight and better efficiency. Patrick Howlett, Mercedes national sale manager for Ireland said: “Irish customers can expect the refinement, intelligence, and driving pleasure that defines the C-Class – now elevated for a fully electric age.”The C-Class will have quite the cutting-edge interior, with the option of a massive, unbroken touchscreen that measures a full metre across and fills the dashboard from door to door. Will buyers be swayed by such tech? Or will they mourn the loss of a more traditional sort of Mercedes cabin, with its quiet sense of assured luxury?Both cars may yet be beaten by Volvo’s putative new ES60 saloon, which is still in the early stages of development, but which will share the same SPA3 platform as the new EX60 SUV. We’ve tested, and been hugely impressed, by the EX60 and it claims a range advantage over its competitors too. Will the ES60 be the first of these posh electric saloons to nudge up towards a 1,000km range?Does that leave Lexus’ new ES350 electric saloon out on a limb, with its claimed 530km range? Not necessarily, but it’s certainly a limitation for the new Lexus. Then again, Lexus’ reputation for robustness, amid continuing buyer concern over battery longevity, may tip some of the balance in its favour. Beyond those traditional premium brands, new Chinese competitors will also be nudging into this space. The first to arrive will be from BYD’s posh spinoff, Denza, whose Z9 GT offer Porsche-esque styling, masses of cabin space, but does its claimed 601km range seem suddenly paltry in the face of the long-range Germans?