BMW i3 covers 6,000 km across Europe and spends under three hours charging
The new BMW i3 50 xDrive traveled 5,886.7 km from Nordkapp to Tarifa, spending 2 hours and 46 minutes on charging. BMW calls the result a record.
The journey passed through eight countries via motorways, rural roads, and populated areas. The electric vehicle was charged at public stations, and the crew selected the route between checkpoints considering available infrastructure, traffic, and weather. The average charging power was 275 kW.
The trip involved a production BMW i3 50 xDrive with two electric motors and all-wheel drive. The total power output of the powertrain reaches 469 hp, acceleration to 100 km/h takes 4.7 seconds, and the top speed is 200 km/h. The battery with a capacity of 108.7 kWh provides a range of up to 912 km under the WLTP cycle.
The model is built on an 800-volt architecture and supports DC charging with a power of up to 400 kW. In 10 minutes at a fast-charging station, the range can be replenished by 423 km under the WLTP cycle. The average energy consumption during the trip was 12.5 kWh per 100 km—lower than the model's official WLTP figure.
The BMW i3 became the first fully electric representative of the BMW 3 Series on the Neue Klasse platform. The company stated that the car set a record for total charging time on the Paneuropeana route, surpassing the 2017 result by more than seven hours.
