It has been 6:00 pm. Everyone is at home on the beepers when we send the electric BMW iX3 near Nijmegen on the A73 towards the south. It is dry and cloudy, the thermometer indicates an outside temperature of 6.5 degrees Celsius, Weeronline.nl says that a light breeze is blowing from the northwest with wind force 2. To eliminate the influence of weather and height differences, our test route at the same point.
In the BMW iX3, the seat heating is on at 1 light, while the climate control keeps the temperature on board at 21 degrees Celsius. These are not the most ideal test conditions for the electric SUV: a comfortable temperature for the occupants costs energy. The winter tires under the iX3 also leave a mark on the consumption values. The Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 quartet have a somewhat higher rolling resistance than standard summer tires.
BMW iX3: range at 100 km / h
The BMW iX3 has a battery pack with a net capacity of 74.0 kWh / 100 km. With adaptive cruise control at a tight 100 km / h, the SUV-on-power has an average energy consumption of 21.1 kWh / 100 km. Good for a range of 351 kilometer with a full battery.
And with that, the BMW iX3 comes out surprisingly. For such a tall, large and heavy car, we expected energy consumption to be higher than that of the Volvo XC40 Recharge. But that is not the case; the iX3 even manages to improve the consumption of the Volkswagen ID.4. The similarly sized Aiways U5 also has a higher consumption than the BMW iX3.
BMW iX3: range at 130 km / h
The clock points to 6.57 pm, for the occasion we eat 3 minutes away from the starting signal for 130 km / h. Again it goes in the direction of the Zaarderheiken junction, to drive back to Nijmegen from this location. We divide the consumption of the outward and return journey by two. Result: 29.8 kWh / 100 km, good for a range of 248 kilometer.
This result also deserves applause: the BMW iX3 now also improves the score of the Volkswagen ID.4 (77 kWh). It is true that only 54 percent of the specified range of 460 kilometers (WLTP) remains, but our expectations of the BMW iX3 were less rosy.
Conclusion
If we had to guess in advance how far the BMW iX3 would get during our range measurement at 100 and 130 km / h, we would now have no bank balance. The electric SUV surprises, in a positive sense. Because despite its size, height and ‘stiff’ winter tires, it records better consumption values than the Volkswagen ID.4 and Volvo XC40 Recharge. Cars that are one class smaller than the BMW.
On the other hand, those cars are also cheaper than the iX3, so maybe the test result isn’t that surprising. After all, the higher price has to be repaid somewhere, don’t you think?
If the Germans were to use the same 286 hp electric motor with the same 74 kWh battery pack (net) in the much more streamlined BMW i4 (which will appear on the market later this year), we will see the results of the range measurement with this mid-range EV. already very sunny.