BMW iX3 Review

Fully charged, there’s a maximum range of 282.1 miles and the BMW iX3 also comes with a Type 2 cable and three-pin household cable as standard to plug it in. That’s a better quoted outright range than either of its key Audi eTron or Mercedes-Benz EQC rivals. 

The best range comes from the iX3 Premier Edition, it being marginally – and we’re really splitting hairs here – more economical than its Premier Edition Pro alternative. 

Any iX3 should do a comfortable 200+ miles if you’re sensible and manage your energy on the move, that something that’s not all down to you if you select the Adaptive drive mode. Do that and a combination of artificial intelligence and nav, forward radar and traffic data works out the best driving strategy to eke out the maximum from the available charge. 

All very clever, then, and BMW admits too, that as much as 90 per cent of ‘reducing speed situations’ (that’s braking to you and me) can be achieved without actually using the brake pedal. In Adaptive mode, braking is largely undertaken by using the regeneration by lifting off the accelerator, again, this being to the benefit of the battery. 

Battery 

As the first car to get BMW’s fifth generation of battery technology, there’s some clever thinking both on show and under the skin. Compared to the i3, the iX3’s eDrive system has a 30 per cent better power density and uses 62 per cent less cobalt per kWh. 

Even the iX3’s alloy wheels give around six miles of extra range through less weight and reduced drag. 

Charging 

On a 150kW rapid charger, BMW claims that drivers can add 62 miles of range in just 10 minutes with a 0 to 80 per cent charge in 34 minutes. Probably more realistic is the fully-charged time of 11.5 hours on a 7.4kW 32 Amp AC Type 2 domestic wallbox. 

Out in the wilds, or the public, at least, it’ll take about 7.5 hours to charge on a 11kW AC charger, with things improving if you can find some DC rapid charging. With a 50kW charger it’ll pull the battery from 0 up to 80% in about 1.3 hours, but if you want to pull away with an 80% top up and some heat still in your takeaway coffee, you’ll need to find a high capacity 150kW DC outlet – these are still relatively few and far between.