Is The BMW i3's 468-Mile Range Overkill?

Name: Is The BMW i3's 468-Mile Range Overkill?
Uploaded: 2026-10-02T21:45:32Z
Duration: 54 min 14 s
Description: On this week's Plugged-In Podcast, we discuss the Tesla-beating BMW, Trump's clean-car rollback, and the Chevy Bolt's limited run.

On this week's Plugged-In Podcast, we discuss the Tesla-beating BMW, Trump's clean-car rollback, and the Chevy Bolt's limited run.

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54:14

Tim Levin

By: Tim Levin

Oct 2, at 5:45pm ET

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BMW did it again. After beating expectations with the iX3 crossover, the automaker has unveiled another certified range monster: the i3 sedan.

The electric 3-Series will boast up to 468 miles of EPA-rated range in the all-wheel-drive 50 xDrive trim, which will be the first variant on offer early next year. That's a whopper of a rating that beats out pretty much everything else on the market today, including every Tesla.

Mack and I discuss the i3 and more on this week's Plugged-In Podcast.You can find the show and subscribe on YouTube and across audio platforms like Spotify and Apple.

It's astonishing to see just how far EV range in the U.S. has come in a short time, despite the choppy waters lately. Tesla was the first to notch a 400-mile EPA rating, landing that with the Model S in 2020. But 400 miles is increasingly the norm for high-end cars. Consider the Audi A6 E-Tron's 395-mile rating or the Volvo EX60's 400-mile estimate. The Mercedes C-Class should land around there too.

The i3 trounces most of the competition, and it's fitting that BMW is swinging for the fences with the first-ever electric version of its bread-and-butter 3-Series.

But is 468 miles even necessary? After all, Tesla has done quite well with cars that get in the mid-300s. Maybe there's a reason nobody has unseated the Lucid Air, which has held America's range crown for five years with its 500-plus-mile rating.

I don't think it can hurt. Even with all the 300-mile options on offer, surveys show that American car buyers are concerned about having enough range. And that's holding back sales. Maybe the key to unlocking more adoption—at least among a certain segment of the population and at this stage in the transition—is to give them so much range they don't ever need to think about it. Absurd amounts of range could help break down the psychological barrier many people have about running out of juice.

Then there are practical concerns. For people who do a lot of highway driving in cold climates, 400 miles and up may be exactly what they need. As you'll see if you tune into this week's show, Mack disagrees. He thinks somewhere in the 300s is the sweet spot, and more than that is overkill for most people.

At the same time, range isn't free. More range means using a bigger battery, and every kilowatt-hour will cost you. At $61,500, the i3 50 xDrive actually is fairly well-priced with its gas-powered equivalent. But a 350-mile model could fit the bill for a lot of people and be an even better deal.

And as public charging gets faster, more reliable, and more available, how much does absolute range really matter? That shift is already happening. And I suspect carmakers and the public will become far less obsessed with absolute range as time goes on. Once there's charging basically everywhere you need it, the need for a huge range buffer fades away.

What do you think?

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What do you think? Is range in luxury EVs getting out of step with what people need? Or is it just what the doctor ordered?

If you have any questions you want us to answer on air, or have suggestions for guests, drop us a line: Podcast@InsideEVs.com.

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