BMW says its new i3 50 xDrive drove 5,886.7 km (3,658 miles) from Norway’s North Cape to Tarifa in southern Spain. The whole journey needed only 2 hours and 46 minutes of charging. The run was part of the Paneuropeana long-distance efficiency challenge, and the company says the car averaged 12.5 kWh/100 km.

The Paneuropeana is not about who reaches the finish line first. The challenge was started by Rafael de Mestre, and entrants cross Europe through a set of fixed checkpoints. The winner is the car with the shortest total charging time, not the fastest overall time. That makes it a test of efficiency, fast-charging performance and route planning together. BMW took on the challenge with its new i3 50 xDrive, the first fully electric 3 Series and a model built on the Neue Klasse platform.

The same BMW EfficientDynamics team recently drove a BMW iX3 50 xDrive 1,007 km (626 miles) from Debrecen to Munich on a single battery charge.

From the Arctic to the Strait of Gibraltar

The route starts at the North Cape on the Norwegian island of Magerøya, about 2,100 km (1,305 miles) south of the North Pole. BMW describes it as the northernmost point of continental Europe that can be reached by car. The finish is Tarifa, in the Andalusian province of Cádiz, which is the southernmost point of mainland Europe.

The organisers chose the stages and checkpoints so that speed on the road would not decide the result. Cars travel as normal traffic on motorways, country roads and through towns. Charging stops are not fixed in advance, so teams have to plan each leg around the available charging infrastructure while also dealing with weather and traffic.

The run in numbers

According to BMW, the i3 passed through eight countries on the 5,886.7 km (3,658 miles) journey. Its average consumption was 12.5 kWh/100 km. That is below the lower end of the car’s official WLTP combined range of 18–13.4 kWh/100 km. Driving time came to 3 days, 2 hours and 41 minutes, at an average speed of 79.7 km/h (49.5 mph).

The exact time spent at DC fast chargers was 2 hours, 45 minutes and 54 seconds, at an average charging power of 275 kW. BMW says the car only used public charging points on each country’s national networks.

One engineer drove the car for the entire trip. A second i3 and an iX3 50 xDrive came along as support vehicles. BMW states that all three cars had exactly the same hardware and software as the production models available to customers.

“The nearly 6,000-kilometre Pan-European journey across Europe is impressive proof of the full everyday usability of our new BMW i3 based on the Neue Klasse. With a total charging time of just 2 hours and 46 minutes, we beat the previous record from 2017 by more than seven hours. To me, this is a strong demonstration of the capabilities of our new technologies and a tremendous team achievement that we can all be proud of.” — Mike Reichelt, Head of Neue Klasse, BMW Compact- and Midsize Class

Gen6 hardware behind the result

The i3 uses BMW’s sixth-generation (Gen6) eDrive system. It has new high-voltage batteries with cylindrical cells, 800-volt technology and bidirectional charging. The 50 xDrive has one electric motor on each axle and produces 345 kW (469 PS) and 645 Nm. Its battery has 108.7 kWh of usable capacity and is built using cell-to-pack and pack-to-open-body construction. BMW quotes a WLTP range of up to 912 km (567 miles).

The car can DC charge at up to 400 kW. According to the manufacturer, 10 minutes at a fast charger adds enough energy for up to 423 km (263 miles) of WLTP range.

Where the efficiency comes from

BMW gives several reasons for the low consumption:

  • A drag coefficient of 0.21, which makes it the most aerodynamic BMW yet
  • Tyres with rolling resistance 14 per cent better than the ‘A’ efficiency label requires
  • 19-inch M Aerodynamic Polygon 1061 M wheels on the record car
  • 40 per cent lower energy losses in the Gen6 motors than in Gen5
  • 20 per cent higher volumetric energy density in the cylindrical cells than in Gen5’s prismatic cells
  • A central computer, called ‘Heart of Joy’, that handles more than 95 per cent of braking through the electric motors to recover energy

What it means

The run does not set a new benchmark for range. Its point is that a production car on public chargers can cover very long distances with short charging stops. Combined with the iX3’s 1,007 km single-charge drive, it supports BMW’s case that Neue Klasse models are built for long-distance travel.

Facts: BMW i3 50 xDrive

  • Power: 345 kW (469 PS)
  • Torque: 645 Nm
  • 0–100 km/h (0–62 mph): 4.7 seconds
  • Top speed: 200 km/h (124 mph)
  • Battery: 108.7 kWh usable, cylindrical lithium-ion cells
  • Range: up to 912 km (567 miles), WLTP
  • Charging: up to 400 kW DC; up to 423 km (263 miles) WLTP in 10 minutes
  • Consumption: 18–13.4 kWh/100 km, WLTP combined
  • Production: BMW Group plant, Munich

The i3 is built at BMW’s main plant in Munich, which has been rebuilt with a new body shop and vehicle assembly facility. BMW says the new i3 makes its debut in 2026.

Source: newsroom.bmwgroup.com