BMW iX3 covers 1,011 km on a single charge, against a 698 km rating
Two staff members from a Canadian BMW dealer drove the new iX3 from Niagara Falls to Quebec without charging: 1,011 km at 10.8 kWh/100 km, using 110.3 kWh.
The new Neue Klasse BMW iX3 carries an official range of 698 km. Jeff and Mike from Canadian dealer "Performance BMW" in St. Catharines wanted to find out whether it could do 1,000 km on one charge. They set off from Niagara Falls, crossed Ontario and reached Quebec two days later.
The strategy
They charged to 100% at a Supercharger, since the North American iX3 has a NACS port. They drove in Max Range mode, which caps speed at 90 km/h, with the AC off and the windows up. By their maths, anything much above 10 kWh/100 km would make the target hopeless. After day one they were averaging 11.1 kWh/100 km, and elevation turned out to matter far more than they expected.
The numbers
- 51% battery left at 500 km, 36% at 623 km;
- 18% at 821 km, 14% at 869 km;
- past 1,000 km with 2% left;
- an average of 10.8 kWh/100 km at just 68 km/h.
Beating Germany
A similar run in Germany had reached 1,007 km. So the Canadians kept going and stopped at 1,011.1 km, after 15 hours 11 minutes and 110.3 kWh used. Their verdict: two ordinary drivers can do it, no engineers needed, but "no one ever wants to do it ever again". And the first charger they found at the end was only Level 2.
