A BMW iX3 Charged For Just 15 Minutes. Here's How Far It Drove On The Highway

The new iX3 can charge at up to 400 kW and has over 400 miles of EPA range, making it a great road-tripping machine.

Photo by: Out of Spec Roaming (YouTube)

Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

Jul 25, at 8:00am ET

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The 2027 BMW iX3 was tested for its road-tripping abilities.
The German EV was charged from 10% for just 15 minutes.
Then, the driver took it on the highway to see how far it would go until it reached 10% again.

The 2027 BMW iX3 is one of the most polished EVs out there, with really fast charging speeds, good efficiency, and plenty of technology inside. BMW threw everything it had at its first Neue Klasse model, and the results have been clear so far.

To make things even clearer, the YouTube channel Out of Spec Roaming wanted to see how good a road-tripping car the new iX3 is by putting it through what it calls the 10% challenge. The test is as straightforward as they get, and it bags several useful results, including charging performance, real-world range, and efficiency.

The car gets plugged into a DC fast charger at 10% state of charge, with the battery fully preconditioned to get the most out of it. After just 15 minutes of charging, the session is stopped, and the car then sets off on the highway at a constant speed ( 74 miles per hour, or 120 kilometers per hour, in this case).

The test stops when the EV’s battery level goes back to 10%, with the idea being to simulate a quick stop on a real-world road trip. In this particular case, the iX3 xDrive50 delivered 148 miles and an average energy efficiency of 2.56 miles/kilowatt-hour (38.9 kWh/100 mi).

That’s a decent result, but it also shows that if iX3 owners are willing to spend a little more time at the charger, they would drive even further between pit stops. Considering the iX3 50’s battery capacity is a solid 108 kilowatt-hours, an 80% charge would result in a real-world range of 203 miles. According to BMW, charging from 10% to 80% takes 21 minutes.

Meanwhile, a full charge should deliver 291 miles on the highway, which is really not bad for a big family SUV. By comparison, the iX3’s EPA-estimated range is 434 miles, but that comes from both high- and low-speed driving.

When it comes to charging, the iX3’s performance was impressive, with the maximum input shooting up to 407 kW right from the beginning, and staying above 400 kW until about 20% state of charge. It then started to dip below the 400 kW mark, reaching 360 kW at 30%, 250 kW at 40%, and 200 kW at 50%.

Gallery: 2026 BMW iX3 xDrive 50

Source: Andrei Nedelea

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After 15 minutes of charging, the car had gone from 10% to 65% state of charge, averaging 257 kW during the session.

All in all, the iX3 is shaping up to be a great all-rounder, and it can’t come soon enough to an American market that seems to be losing electric options by the day. The SUV has already seen great success in Europe, where it has exceeded the automaker’s expectations. In the U.S., preorders recently kicked off, with the first deliveries scheduled for late September.