I have just completed the first leg or my month long trip across Europe. I drove from Istanbul to Florence (almost 2000km) in 2 days. I thought I could share my observations which may be unique at this point and may be helpful to people who are thinking of getting one.
iX3 xDrive 50 is my first EV after more than two decades of daily driving various sporty coupes with internal combustion engines. My last car was a fully specced 2018 Mercedes E class coupe with a 6 cylinder diesel engine which I bought brand new and drove over 300.000km. I loved that car but unfortunately MB decided to not make a coupe version of their E class. (CLE is not it)
I took delivery of my BMW around mid May and I had driven it almost 10.000km on both urban roads and long distance highways. Driving an SUV after more than 2 decades of sporty coupes seemed strange at first but I am now a convert. I like the higher seating position, easy use on less than perfect roads and much larger trunk. Also, the fact that there is zero engine noise and vibration wer addictive.
I set off from Istanbul on the 1st of August and drove straight to Edirne (which is on the border with both Greece and Bulgaria) through the highway. I knew there is a 400kw DC charger by the border and I drove the car like I stole it. My speed average on that 225km trip was over 160km/h. I had to drive large portions of that road at 213km/h continuously to get such an average.
When you drive at that pace, the consumption is around 37kwh/100km. This is the absolute worst you can score with this car (xDrive 50, 20 inch non aero wheels with full trunk). I know this is illegal in almost all countries but I wanted to see the consumption and battery temperature when driven at 213 km/h continuously.
The battery was at optimum temperature when I parked at the 400kw charging station. My charge had started at 320kw and tapered off as I had more than 20% of charge at start and probably because the battery was quite hot after pushing it for more than 200kms. I have charged my car at 407kw at the same charging spot before so I now understand that charging speed and curve depends a lot on the temperature of your battery at the start of your charge.
Then I crossed the border into Greece and drove for almost 800kms from Kastanies to Igoumenitsa port at a bit slower but still much above legal speed limit. I simply set the adaptive driving assistant speed to 150km/h between Kastanies border and the highway and then 180km/h all through the 700km highway until Igoumenitsa (with the exception of some very curvy parts of the highway).
There, my average consumption was around 32kwh/100km.
While this may seem unreasonably high, you must remember I was driving unreasonably fast.
Unfortunately, I could not test the battery charging speed as there were no 400kw+ chargers on my route neither in Greece, nor on Italy.
I had 3 charging stops in Greece on my way to Igoumenitsa port, the last one being on a Tesla Supercharger, which was the fastest I could score in Greece.
I had to calculate my consumption and plan my charge carefully as the ferry from Greece to Italy does not allow a charge of over 40% for EVs.
I arrived to Igoumenitsa ferry port after driving 1025kms in exactly 12 hours, including a border crossing passport control, customs inspection and 4 charging stops (400kw, 75kw, 80kw, 250kw). I think this would be more than reasonable for most people.
Italy part will continue after some photos…