Bj\u00f8rn Nyland has put more electric cars through his 1,000 km highway test than most people have driven in total. He logs everything \u2014 every charging stop, every minute \u2014 in a public Google spreadsheet that\u2019s become something of a reference document for the EV world. So when a car goes fast, you can actually see why. The BMW iX3 (NA5) finished in 8 hours and 55 minutes. That\u2019s the best result he\u2019s recorded for any electric SUV. It also beats the Mercedes EQS 450+ and the new Mercedes CLA<\/a>, both of which were tested in warmer weather \u2014 a detail that matters more than it might seem.<\/p>\n

The conditions for the iX3 were rough. Temperatures were around freezing, which punishes battery range. The test car came on 21-inch wheels rather than 20s, trimming WLTP range by 23 km. Nyland reckons the cold alone cost 5 to 10 minutes off the final time. Run this test in double-digit temperatures and the iX3 probably lands in his all-time top three, somewhere near the Tesla Model S Long Range.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s worth paying attention to here isn\u2019t just the time. The iX3 posts that result through a specific combination: big battery, fast charging, and efficiency that holds up when you\u2019re driving hard on the motorway. Most EVs are good at one or two of those. The iX3 does all three, and then also has 469 hp and enough room to carry people comfortably. That\u2019s what Nyland kept coming back to \u2014 not just a single impressive stat, but the fact that nothing obvious was sacrificed.<\/p>\n

The car had already done a different kind of 1,000 km run \u2014 driven conservatively from BMW\u2019s Debrecen factory to Munich<\/a> without a single charging stop. BMW says the iX3 50 xDrive (NA5) is rated at 421 to 500 miles WLTP depending on wheel size \u2014 20-inch wheels hit the top end, while the 21s used in Nyland\u2019s test drop it by around 14 miles. In the US, BMW\u2019s preliminary EPA estimate sits at up to 400 miles, though a final certified figure hasn\u2019t been published yet. China\u2019s CLTC cycle, the most generous of the three standards, puts it at 559 miles (900 km). The gap between WLTP and EPA is around 20%, which is pretty standard across the industry.<\/p>\n

The i3 sedan edges further ahead: BMW claims 900 km WLTP and 440 miles EPA, a 95 km improvement over the iX3 that\u2019s largely down to the sedan\u2019s better aerodynamics. So we expect the 1,000 kilometer test to be easily achieved with the NA0 i3.<\/p>\n