[just trying to resolve the issue with the images I've tried to attach!]
This weekend we headed up to Dumfries & Galloway for a short break. Door to door it's 200 miles. The iX3 is my first EV and I've had 5 Series Tourings for the past 6 years or so.
It's bit of a long read but hopefully this write up is useful for some folks
The car was fully loaded with all the luggage for a weekend of walking and:
1 x wife
1 x me!
2 x kids (9 & 11)
2 x Rough Collies (They weigh about 20kg & 26kg)
I was going to use the roofbox but we managed without as I wanted to get some sort of bench mark of range without it.
The boot liner is an E83 BMW Boot liner that fits the iX3 pretty well. Glad I didn't chuck it out now! In terms of a boot mat I bought one off ebay that is an excellent fit and really good quality. A link to it is
here:
The dog cage is the same one I used in the G31. It was custom made and has a sloping back to maximise the boot space. It fits the iX3 really well. There is more room at the side but less room in front of the cage that the 5 series.
Again, if anyone is interested the cage (
https://arrows-uk.com) measurements are below:
The car was charged to about 96% when we set off, showing a range of 211 miles. Climate control was set to 22%, the wife had the heated seat on and the outside temperate was around 8 degrees.
We stopped at Appleby Manor (121 miles) for a quick charge (BP Pulse). At this point we had averaged 2.7kWh. Most of the journey had been on the M1 & A66 with the cruise / driving assistant etc set to about 75mph. The car was showing approx 59 miles left. The charging stop added about 16kWh and the range was showing 102 miles and we had about 80 miles left to do. The whole process with the BMW charging card was really slick and worked very well.
Arriving at our destination there was 23 miles left on the range.
I used the granny charger at the holiday cottage with the 10m Tough Leads extension, this worked well, but at 10amps pretty slow, still fast enough to get a full charge ready for the drive home. The underfloor storage in the boot is just big enough for the BMW type 2, BMW granny charger and 10m tough leads extension cables!
The return journey was pretty much the same but stopped at Scotch Corner for a quick 10 minute charge using the GRIDSERVE charger. This was not the same experience as the BP Pulse! It took ages to connect to the car, then failed to charge. In the end I waited until the iPace next to me had finished and used the other connector, which worked fine. The interface in the GRIDSERVE chargers isn't as intuitive as the BP Pulse one, and more expensive (they don't partner with BMW charging) so I will avoid in the future, unless it's an emergency!
The return journey was the same 2.7kWh average, with similar speeds but during the daytime this time.
So to sum up the whole trip!
Facts & Figures (mostly in B Mode & Eco Pro and occasionally Comfort)
- 2.7kWh average for a 400 mile fully loaded trip in temperatures around 6-8 degrees
- Real world range around 186 miles
- Estimated range in these conditions with a roof box is 130-140 miles
Pros
- The car is fantastic! Smooth, quiet, plenty quick enough. Quality is superb.
- Space (there is more room in the front and rear than the G31. Leg & head space as well as width)
- The driving assistant worked really well for the most part. It takes a bit to trust it (I've not had it before) and it seems to favour being over to the left more than I would like.
- It handles brilliantly for a large car and the suspension is very compliant even on the some of the rougher roads in Scotland we were on
- The range predication was pretty accurate
- Rapid charging is quick enough
- The seats are excellent. I normally have lumbar support for my back, but I don't have it this time around. My back has been fine and there is a plenty of lower back support.
- Overall I love this car and am glad I made the jump into a BMW flavoured EV
Cons
- Real world range was a little less than I expected, but more than adequate.
- I suspect the roof box would knock the range down to somewhere between 130 to 140 miles if the 30% range reduction is accurate
I'm going to try this on a future trip and I'll report back
- The granny charger cables are a bit hefty and a faff, but do their job well enough.
One thing someone said to me that has stuck in my mind (to help the range anxiety) is to stop at the charging point that is the one before the one you think you will need! I've been using Zap-Map which works really well. One of the really useful features is the real time availability of a charging point that you can browse before setting off and then comparing it to the chargers the built-in nav selects.
Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I hope it's helpful. I had some questions about space, fully loaded range etc when I first got mine so hopefully I've helped answer some of those for anyone who is doing some research in the future.
Cheers