How much EV range is enough? While 200 miles will do for some, 300 miles is a pretty strong benchmark, and some shoppers want enough range to make road-tripping an EV just as easy as road-tripping a combustion-powered car. For those in the latter camp, here’s a new car you might want to keep an eye on: BMW has released new details on the incoming Neue Klasse iX3 compact electric crossover, and it’s targeting 400 miles of range in 50 xDrive trim.
That’s not WLTP range either, but 400 miles of EPA range in a model you’ll be able to buy here in North America. It’s a segment-busting figure considering the compact crossover leader, the updated Tesla Model Y Long Range, posts a figure of 327 miles of range. It really makes you wonder, how massive of a battery pack did BMW cram between the wheelbase of the new iX3? We know it will use cylindrical cells as opposed to prismatic cells, and that BMW claims 20 percent great energy density compared to its previous-generation cells, but 400 miles of range is going to require some serious juice.
Still, the upside of targeting 400 miles of range is that range anxiety should be basically nonexistent. If the iX3 achieves that figure in the real world, you’d be able to drive one from New York City to Montreal without ever having to stop, a seven-hour drive that will probably tire you out before it tires the car out.
Since huge range usually requires a ton of batteries, the iX3 will come with some serious charging specs. We’ve known for a while that the Neue Klasse EVs will feature an 800-volt architecture, but the highlight here is 400 kW maximum DC fast charging. That’s the ability to draw more power than pretty much any North American charging station can provide, but not only is that a vote of confidence in the future, it should yield a strong charging curve when hooked up to a 300 kW DC fast charging station.
That being said, it seems like BMW’s making charging a bit more complicated than it needs to be with what it calls an intelligent charging flap. If you’ve pulled up to a commonly used piece of charging equipment, the charging door will automatically open. While there are likely anti-ice measures built in, it could be annoying if you come home and don’t intend to plug in yet due to time-of-use electricity rates, but the charging door’s open when you hop out of the car. Hopefully BMW’s built around that possibility, and I’m sure there will be an option to disable it in vehicle settings.
Another feature I’m approaching with caution is the steering wheel, because it sounds like it may use capacitive touch pads for steering wheel controls. As BMW states, the steering wheel “buttons are illuminated when functions are available; relief-like structure and active haptic feedback enable intuitive operation without the driver having to take his or her eyes off the road.” The current Lincoln Nautilus shows buttons that illuminate only when necessary can be done well, but BMW’s vague wording suggests that we might not be looking at traditional buttons when the iX3 launches.
In a normal car, the ABS controller, powertrain control module, and electric power steering control module are all separate computers talking to each other over a relatively slow CAN network. For the Neue Klasse, BMW’s gone and consolidated all of that into one module, meaning all your steering assistance, brake blending, stability control, and powertrain control is done within the same computer. In theory, this should result in quicker and more versatile system control to enhance the driving experience. Recently, Car And Driver had a go in a prototype, and reports “The steering was nicely weighted and very accurate, though it doesn’t provide much feedback. But the chassis balance was excellent, and in Sport mode, which allocates more of the power split to the rear motor, you could easily balance the car with the accelerator in hard corners.” Expected behavior when it comes to steering, but promising stuff for overall playfulness.
It feels like BMW has been due for a reset over the past few years, and the Neue Klasse EVs seem like a big leap into the future, ditching enormous vertical grilles and ushering in some important technical innovations. We should learn a whole lot more about this new iX3 compact electric crossover soon, as it’s expected to debut this September, then officially enter production by the end of the year.
Top graphic image: BMW
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
Everything I READ about this bimmer gets me excited, unfortunately everything I SEE makes me cringe a little.
It’s good that BMW addressed the range anxiety. Now they can address that bucktooth grill anxiety that this creates and still can’t hide under the new car camo
I take it you’ve never heard of a rest area?
Also, cue the weird nerds:
“MY bladder can’t handle that range!”
“Why don’t you stop to peeeeee!”
Wait till they find out rest areas have restrooms….
So….BMW solved this issue with the little “range extender” motor in the i3. Lots of Chinese EVs are being sold with this tech – why did BMW abandon it?
Everyone is missing the point! The real news here is that underneath all of that camouflage, the ‘nostrils’ are returning to semi-normal proportions.
They’re really tall though
They look 2002 (the car not the year) size, proportionally to the rest of the grill/car.
Thank GOODNESS BMW is moving to a more centralized computation network and a more zonal approach with it’s modules. I sincerely hope the entire industry does this quickly. The current way these systems works is *supplier* creates an ABS module, *Other Supplier* creates an EPAS control module, *other other supplier* creates a Stability control module and *OEM, sometimes* Does PCM, all have to go over CAN, and OEM may save a buck or two by leveraging economies of scale of *suppliers 1-3* and not devoting engineering resources into making something that exists.
The reality for the end consumer, dealer, independents, and anyone else, is that as soon as one of these black boxes develops a fault or error, the car doesn’t know what the hell to do, errors are a nightmare to diagnose because BMW is not Bosch, and just because a Bosch part is integrated in the car, doesn’t mean it’s working seamlessly with the BMW. As a result, BMW does not control the hardware or it’s manufacturing, meaning if Bosch EOLs a product, and it’s in your car, good luck. It also means that you have *DOZENS* of these things in any car that’s a step above a low trim Nissan, and they’re seldom below $250 a piece. Sure this one big module may be expensive, and it may have some teething challenges, but centralized zonal architecture remove so many wires, connectors, and by extension failure points that would require troubleshooting.
I won’t speak to the styling since we haven’t seen all of it yet, but seems like BMW has a winner on it’s hands if it can keep costs reasonable, a quick (presumably) high range crossover is a winning formula, as long as it can compete on price with the ICE X3 when EV tax credits get dropped.
Okay range: 400 miles.
That’s 0-100%, I assume, which you can not use. So it’s not 400 miles. 400 miles of real world range, while preserving the life of the battery, would be 70% of the actually theoretical full range. 400 / 0.7 =570 miles. So I’ll wait for the 600 mile range car, which doesn’t exist and isn’t practical with lithium batteries. A 400 mile range vehicle is more practically a 300 mile range vehicle, more or less. No one drives an electric car from 100% charge down to zero. And you’d be driving between chargers anyway, not your destination. These limitations are real and are not going away.
You can indeed use 0-100, it’s just unwise to use it all the time. Similarly, it’s unwise to stay pegged at redline constantly
I’d think it unwise to do that if the car is in motion at any speed.
You charge to 100 when you’re going on a roadtrip. Our lyriq’s range is about 310miles on a full charge, and if we take a road trip we get reasonably 270ish miles factoring the range loss of highway driving. So 350-360 shouldn’t be an issue with this BMW and when you’re not on a road trip you don’t need the 100% anyways and can bring it back down to 80%.
The bigger issue is of course going to be the weight and the charging time of filling up such a big battery. The Escalade IQ has twice the battery capacity of the Lyriq so it takes like 1.5 hours to fully charge on a road trip unless you get perfect charging conditions. Gas is always going to win in that scenario.
Couldn’t be a Beemer without some unnecessary gimmicky feature that will be a real problem when it fails.
NY to Montreal? What a ridiculous measure. Focusing on how far you can drive on maximum range in perfect circumstances only serves to marginalize those who genuinely have range anxiety due to other factors – like Winter.
Drop temperatures well below freezing and you’ve got lower battery capacity, more wheel slippage in places, often grippier winter tires (with heavier drag), your heater is going heavily, you often have AC turned on for anti-fog, and your headlights are on due to increased darkness… That’ll be the case for 3-5 months of the year continuous in Northern States and into Canada.
Add a few years of life onto that battery, and then tell me the range in the winter.
It’s honestly, why, tech that promises a faster charge appeals to me more – bring on the dream, BYD.
Is this really a thing? My 2020 Kona EV lets me set the cheapest charging hours, and choose between only charging then, or only charging outside then if it needs to, based on my charge-to % level and my (also a setting) departure time. There’s also a handy button right next to the charge port to override and “charge now”
Yeah, I think pretty much every EV and PHEV has that option. Whether people enable it is another question, but this kind of seems like a non-issue.
TIL this was a common thing…I thought you’d have to get pretty deep into some subscription app to have that kind of feature. Good to know.
I have to assume almost all home EV charging is done overnight when power demands are lowest all around. With a 120V outlet, I would probably just take all the charge I can get, regardless of time.
It really depends on how much you drive during the day. I don’t put on enough miles, I mainly charge during the lowest-cost time (11p-6a M-F, all weekend). But I also take advantage of free L2 charing around town when I can, and have access to (pay) L3 chargers in a pinch.
Anti-ice measures built in
“Deport this one to…where did you say you’re from?”
“Bayern. Bavaria.”
“Officer Hicks, google Bavaria for me. OK. No, not WebMD. So it’s a beer from where? The Neth…Never neverland? Like the Michael Jackson compound or the cartoon one? Oh, Dutch. Like from Denmark. Got it.”
“Am I free to go yet? I’m certified for sale here.”
“Cool your jets, Franz. It looks like we don’t have any heavy ships headed for Denmark, the best we can do is Greenland. Get in the container. With any luck you’ll be American soon.”
But does it have hidden mechanical door release mechanisms in the even of a power failure?
And are they conveniently located under a couple of layers of carpet, floor mats, and a plastic panel that can only be removed using the proprietary tool that is safely stored in the glove box, which can only be opened using the command three-menus deep into the touch-screen?
A BMW EV with 400 miles of range, playful handling, and styling that might actually be okay?
….I’m listening!
“As BMW states, the steering wheel “buttons are illuminated when functions are available; relief-like structure and active haptic feedback enable intuitive operation without the driver having to take his or her eyes off the road.”
……..I am no longer listening
Did the camo throw you off from the incredibly awkward rodent teeth “grille”?
The Neue Klasse stuff is at least okay, which is an upgrade over everything in their current portfolio other than the 8 series, Z4, and X5. I also don’t have an issue with this grille because it’s at least reminiscent of some of their classics. It’s completely unnecessary, but I understand why they want to have some form of grille for design purposes.
And it will somehow weigh 40 metric tonnes
It can only being a styling improvement from the iX.
I was just thinking that we need more EVs at the high-end of the market.
No kidding
More luxury EV crossovers are needed for sure. There definitely aren’t enough of them.
Man, if they can just build one more luxury EV, I’m sure that’ll be the one that gets me into a luxury vehicle.
And just to be sure they know it’s both luxurious AND and EV, we’ll change all the normal controls to smart buttons and automated charging flaps. Because that’s progress. I don’t care if 80% of our target market is either too busy or too old to figure it out!
It vouldn’t be German vithout an over engineered solution to ze problem that does not exist
While I don’t like the sound of this, I have to give them credit for at least mentioning not taking your eyes off the road. Seems like a lot of vehicle UI design just figures you’ll look at it just like you look at the phone you shouldn’t be using while driving.
I don’t know if they’re doing it right, but at least they claim to have thought about it.
If illumination shows you when the feature is available, doesn’t that require someone to look at the button? I can’t see the presence or absence of light with my fingertips.
Sea Urchins can!
So this thing will be perfect in the world of Bojack Horseman.
I’m just hoping that the illumination is secondary and just assists in the same way illumination on window switches might. The “relief-like structure” suggests you may be able to feel the divots. Still prefer hard buttons, but it might be better than the smooth everything trend.