The BMW i3 can travel from Cape North to Tarifa in less than three hours of charging time.

BMW completed a journey of nearly 5,900 kilometers from Cape Town to Tarifa using the new BMW i3 50 xDrive. According to the manufacturer, the electric 3 Series required only 2 hours and 46 minutes to recharge fully.

Over this distance, the BMW i3 averaged 12.5 kWh per 100 kilometers of travel.

Image: BMW

It’s November. It’s getting cold outside, and by now many people start dreaming of their next summer vacation. Maybe heading south. Maybe to southern France. Maybe to Spain. Or perhaps a road trip across Europe right away. Those who plan such a trip with an electric car usually consider not only hotel prices, tolls, and how many pairs of shoes still need to fit in the suitcase, but also one more factor: charging time. BMW has now made this factor much less of a concern.

Over a distance of 5,886.7 kilometers from Cape North to Spain’s Tarifa, the charging time for the new i3 50 xDrive amounted to just 2 hours, 45 minutes, and 54 seconds. The so-called Paneuropeana route took the BMW through eight countries. The focus was not on minimizing driving time but rather on reducing charging time at designated checkpoints. The team could choose which publicly available fast charging stations to use, allowing them to tailor the route to take advantage of the most efficient charging infrastructure, as well as account for weather and traffic conditions.

BMW reports an average charging power of 275 kW for the entire journey. With this, the i3 broke the previous Paneuropeana record set in 2017 by more than seven hours.

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The BMW i3 during its nearly 5,900-kilometer Paneuropeana journey.

The actual driving time was 3 days, 2 hours, and 41 minutes. The i3 achieved an average speed of 79.7 km/h and consumed an average of 12.5 kWh per 100 kilometers according to BMW. This figure is even lower than the official combined WLTP fuel consumption of the i3 50 xDrive, which ranges from 13.4 to 18 kWh per 100 kilometers. Charging was done exclusively at publicly accessible charging stations along the way.

BMW uses up to 400 kW charging power for the i3

The technical basis for the fast charging time is the sixth generation of the BMW-eDrive system. The new i3 uses an 800-Volt architecture and round cells, achieving a maximum DC charging capacity of 400 kW. Under optimal conditions, it is said to be able to recharge up to 423 kilometers of WLTP range in just ten minutes.

The i3 50 xDrive used for the record-breaking drive is equipped with an electric motor in both the front and rear axles. Together, these two motors deliver 345 kW, equivalent to 469 horsepower, and 645 Nm of torque. The all-wheel-drive electric vehicle accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.7 seconds, with a top speed of 200 km/h.

The usable capacity of the high-voltage battery is 108.7 kWh. BMW claims a WLTP range of up to 912 kilometers for the i3 50 xDrive. The new Gen6 battery’s NMC variant is used in this model. However, BMW does not intend to offer the new class exclusively with this battery chemistry going forward. As BMW CEO Milan Nedeljković recently confirmed, LFP batteries will also be used in selected models. An early example is the iX3 30L developed for China, while higher-end versions will continue to use NMC cells. BMW has no plans to switch entirely to LFP batteries.

To improve efficiency, factors such as an aerodynamic coefficient of only 0.21 and tires with particularly low rolling resistance are also intended to help. According to BMW, the energy losses of the Gen6 electric motors have been reduced by 40 percent compared to the previous generation. The volumetric energy density of the round cells has increased by 20 percent compared to the prismatic cells of Gen5.

Regeneration is also set to contribute to efficiency. BMW claims that over 95 percent of all braking actions are controlled by the central computer “Heart of Joy” through the electric motors, allowing a large portion of the kinetic energy to be returned to the battery.

BMW also emphasizes that the vehicles used in the Paneuropeana were fully compliant with the available production model in terms of hardware and software. Alongside the record-breaking vehicle, another i3 and an iX3 50 xDrive served as accompanying cars. The new electric 3 Series is produced at BMW’s plant in Munich.

Naturally, a record-breaking drive optimized for minimal charging time is something different from a family vacation in August. There are traffic jams, construction sites, hungry passengers, and people who only realize they need to use the bathroom again five minutes after their last charging stop. But if the car needs less than three hours to recharge for just under 6,000 kilometers, it seems that at least one of the classic electric car problems is gradually diminishing. Now BMW just needs to come up with a solution for the traditional issues of traveling across Europe, like construction sites, for example.