BMW in the test: electric car without compromise – Auto & Mobil

Audi wants to get out in a good ten years, Volvo gives up the combustion engine sooner: In 2030, the Swedes want to switch completely to battery vehicles. And BMW? The Munich-based company propagates openness to technology: One 100,000 euro car after another rolls off the assembly line at the Dingolfing plant. The drive mix is ​​more colorful than the sometimes expressive colors and the whoops-now-I’m-coming-giant kidneys. A plug-in hybrid BMW 7 Series twitches behind the BMW M5 fuel sucker, followed by the new BMW iX with its huge battery skateboard. “The customers are the real decision-makers,” preaches BMW boss Oliver Zipse. And the buyers of such horsepower hums are extremely demanding.

Change of perspective: The European environmental association Transport & Environment (T&E) considers this freedom of choice to be a luxury problem at the expense of the climate: While Volvo and the Volkswagen Group would plan towards the European goal of climate neutrality, BMW and Daimler lagged behind with little motivation in the drive turnaround: “No reliable concept”, so the negative verdict from Brussels: BMW plans to sell at least a third of the vehicles in Europe as plug-in hybrids by 2030. The Volkswagen Group including Audi, on the other hand, is only expecting ten percent. The twin drives are unpopular with environmentalists because they make highly motorized company cars appear “greener” than they are: despite a growing proportion of hybrids, they are responsible for around three quarters of CO2 emissions from new cars in Germany, according to T&E. But what is the alternative for frequent drivers?

This is where the BMW iX comes into play. Almost ten years after the City-Hopper i3, BMW is once again treating itself to a technology beacon on a completely new (electronics) platform. Unlike the knobbly small car, the SUV in the X5 format with its modernity does not want to attract attention at any price. Anyone who has got used to the said radiator mouth (which is no longer needed for cooling) is at most bothered by the size of the five-meter car. The inner values ​​are decisive: a new on-board network and an adaptive operating system with a curved screen plus more space than in an X5. Without the central tunnel, the backbenchers in particular can stretch their legs. According to Oliver Zipse, “everything we can” is in the new, large electric SUV. But can the top Stromer also long-haul?

With the slightly smaller BMW iX3, which had to squeeze the electric drive into an existing model, the answer is ambiguous. As soon as a more distant destination is entered in the navigation system, the range shrinks by 100 kilometers due to the motorway passage. With the remaining 300 kilometers with a fully charged battery, long distances become a strategy game: the car may suggest charging stops on its own, but the associated schedule will only be correct with a lot of luck. Everything can be done if you don’t have any deadlines and no children whine in the back seats. The same battery cells are used in the new BMW iX 40 as in the smaller SUV brother. That doesn’t make too much of a good thing in terms of loading times.

But then there is still the top model: the appearance of the iX 50. Despite the 600 kilogram battery, the 2.5-ton truck doesn’t drive like a delivery van at all. Get in, loll in the comfortable lounge chair, press the start button – and then experience the wondrous lightning diet of the car. The system output of 523 hp may seem oversized, but it feels like the all-wheel drive throws off a whole ton of ballast. As light-footed as a sports sedan, the large-capacity transporter with standard rear-wheel steering and air suspension on both axles waves through the curves. Completely without the comfort weaknesses of a Ford Mustang Mach-e, which requires its passengers to be a taker. The guests in the elegant, minimalist BMW ambience remain unmolested by the high-roof pendulum of a Chinese electric litter. Even the Audi e-tron initially drove around the corner with the swing of a furniture truck before its steering was redesigned.

It took BMW five years to design a car that forgot the comfort disadvantages of other electric vehicles. And with a battery capacity of 111 kilowatt hours, the iX 50 also ticks off the issue of range anxiety. “In practice, we simply subtract 20 percent from the maximum standard range of 630 kilometers,” says BMW project manager Johann Kistler with a smile, “then there is still enough left over”. In fact, the forecast total range never falls below 450 kilometers, even after three hours of forced driving on country roads and motorway passages at up to 180 km / h. If you take it easy at the recommended speed, you should easily get over 500 kilometers per battery charge. Mileage eaters can also refuel with up to 200 kW of energy, which would mean a charge stroke from ten to 80 percent state of charge (SOC) in 35 minutes. On the first (guided) exit, however, we were not yet able to check this ideal value in the lowlands of the German fast-charging network.

Open detailed view

Mission accomplished, disadvantages eliminated. The BMW iX can easily replace a luxury class combustion engine. What is missing in this performance class is the roaring engine on kickdown. For example, the bubbling eight-cylinder in the BMW X5 M50i with 530 hp, which emits at least 263 grams of CO2 per kilometer in the very quiet WLTP cycle. This value can easily be doubled on fast motorway sections. That would be a good five times as much as the European CO2 limit of 95 g / km in the fleet mix prescribes. Such cars have no future in the EU.

BMW emphasizes that the BMW iX 40 has around 45 percent lower global warming potential than a comparable SUV with a combustion engine. This applies to the smaller battery with 76.6 kWh. The 111 kWh battery in the BMW iX 50 comes with a larger climate backpack. In Dingolfing, however, BMW produces exclusively with green electricity, and the cell suppliers also use green energy for the iX. In any case, the Stromer works more efficiently than a combustion engine. Even with an abrupt, “sporty” driving style, the consumption of the iX 50 does not exceed 22 kWh in the test, a lot of energy is recovered through recuperation. Pedal strokes stay slightly below 20 kWh / 100 km. That’s a very good figure for a car of this size that can’t duck into the wind. Especially since the more than 200 hp weaker BMW iX3 with only one driven (rear) axle is not much more economical in practice.

So far, so good for the technology carrier iX 50, which costs at least 98,000 euros. For affordable mid-range electric vehicles, however, BMW will be completely blank by 2025 (the BMW iX3 starts at 64,450 euros). Meanwhile, Audi is launching the more compact Q4 e-tron at the price of a comparable diesel model. That means a head start of four years. Maybe that’s what T&E means by chasing after. Technology openness can therefore be a brake. With a motley mix of drives like the one at the Dingolfing plant, BMW will certainly not be able to keep up with the price of volume flow vehicles.