I will admit that my experience with electric vehicles (EVs) is rather limited. My first experience was with a Nissan Leaf way back in 2017, driving around the streets of Tokyo. It would be several years before I got behind the wheel of yet another EV, five years to be exact. It was with a Kia EV6 for a quick drive to Intramuros.
So yes, I’ve driven them around city streets, but one thing I haven’t been able to do is bring one home and live it for a few days. Well, that all changed when BMW offered a drive in its entry-level EV, the iX3. Admittedly, I was skeptical about the prospect of driving an EV as a daily, mainly because of somewhat limited charging infrastructure in the country.
Initially, I had planned to just drive it for a day or two and call it a review. But in the interest of fairness (and curiosity), I drove it for nearly a week. No hypermiling, no hacks to boost range. Drive it like a regular fuel-powered car.
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BMW iX3: A quick background
The BMW iX3 made its world premiere in July 2020, essentially as a battery powered version of the X3. It’s something what others would call a ‘compliance car’, a zero-emissions vehicle that lowers a car company’s average CO2 emissions for the entire lineup. With that, it’s easy to dismiss the iX3 as a bit of a rush job, but that’s not the whole story.
BMW had to re-engineer several aspects of the standard X3’s platform just so it will be fit for an electric conversion. The result is an 80kWh battery pack mounted low in the chassis with a usable capacity of 74kWh. It only has one electric motor and it’s good for 286hp and 400Nm of torque, which is about as much as a BMW V8 from the ‘90s.
There are a few curiosities about the iX3. For starters, you can’t have it with all-wheel drive because it only has one motor. The other is the fact that it doesn’t have a ‘frunk’ (front trunk), a design and packaging limitation of using a fuel-powered car as a basis for an electric vehicle. Also, the cargo area is larger than that of the local-spec X3, but it comes at the expense of a spare tire.
Pick up day
I went on over to BMW Greenhills to pick up the iX3. I was greeted by a Carbon Black (or really dark blue) example in M Sport guise, the only way to have it in the Philippines. In terms of design, it’s a looker, mainly because it looks like a standard X3.
Here’s the thing folks, not every EV has to look like a concept car or a science experiment on wheels. The appeal of the iX3 is that it looks, well, normal. No blobby or bizzare styling cues, just a crossover SUV the way most of us recognize. Of course, there are those who want their EV to appear as futuristic as possible, but that’s not the target market of the iX3.
It’s an EV that wears its green credentials quietly. In this case, it’s in shades of brilliant blue streaks.
Day 1: Traffic!
Hopping in the iX3, I had noticed that it was charged only up to 80 percent. Just to be clear, that’s not the fault of BMW Philippines. The ‘full battery’ charge of the car was limited to 80 percent, which is how it comes from factory. If you want a higher full charge level, you’ll have to set it in the vehicle’s sub-menu.
At 80 percent charge, the trip computer said I had 275 kilometers of range available. Truth be told, my fears of range anxiety started to kick in given the fact that I had to drive pretty far for the week’s shooting location. Will I make it through the week? Do I need to charge up at some point? Is that range meter accurate to the last kilometer? Cue the mini panic attack.
The day’s route consisted of me picking up the missus at the Greenhills Shopping Center and drive back home to the East of the Metro. If you’re reading this and you’re from Rizal, you already know that it’s going to be a long, traffic-congested drive. The first part of the trip went well enough with not much traffic in the way. But with the way things are at the Ortigas Avenue extension, the traffic got pretty packed up. The whole time, I was looking at the range meter, nervous if it had dropped a significant amount.
To my relief, the range stayed steady, and by the time I got home, the range had even gone up by over 10 kilometers. That was helped by the smooth drive from Greenhills. There was a sigh of relief and I found myself thinking, ‘hey, this might not be too nerve-wracking at all’.
Day 2: Errands, a quick date, and more driving
The next day was to be busier than usual but it started with a pleasant surprise. Because the range calculations have been adjusted to the car’s average battery consumption, the range meter showed a figure of 320 kilometers.
The next day was to be busier than usual. Given the traffic we’ve been having during the weekends, the iX3’s energy efficiency would be put to the test. The first order of business was to head to the grocery about 12 kilometers away. While that doesn’t sound like much, getting there would take nearly an hour. Amazingly, the car only lost about 5 kilometers worth of charge, so it’s so far, so good.
Next on the agenda was a quick date with the missus in BGC. Thankfully, the drive going there wasn’t too bad, and iX3 had even regained some of its range thanks to the smoother traffic conditions. It was a pleasant surprise given that C-5 usually becomes a parking lot on Saturdays. Heck, even the post-date drive heading into SM Aura wasn’t too bad.
Unfortunately, the drive going back to Taytay wasn’t that great. The rain had wreaked havoc on traffic, and the volume of cars on the road didn’t help one bit. For those who drive from BGC to Rizal daily, you all know the pain of slogging through there at a snail’s pace. That said, I did have a quick top up of charge in SM Aura, but I was expecting the iX3 to drain its battery because of the conditions.
By the time we got home, the range had dropped from 282km at the start of the day to 245km. I had driven about 30 kilometers, but the range suggested that I traveled more than that. You could argue that it’s still a good number, but I had a long drive and a shoot to do the following day...in Laguna.
Day 3, part 1: The long drive...
Shoot days here at Top Gear Philippines typically involves a drive to Santa Rosa, Laguna .For me, I would come from Taytay, take C-6, and enter SLEX via Bicutan. It’s a smooth drive for most of the way, right until the on-ramp to the expressway. That day was no different, but I also had to swing by San Pedro to pick up colleague. The little detour added about 14 kilometers to the drive.
If there’s one thing about the iX3, it doesn’t lose range as fast as you’d think. After over 60 kilometers, we arrived at the shoot location with 212 kilometers left in the charge. That’s not bad at all considering the distance and, um, my driving style.
But just because we’re at the location, it didn’t mean we’d just sit there the whole day. We needed to do driving impressions, rolling shots, and move the car around to get the perfect angle. Oh, and our rolling shots usually mean we drive a huge chunk of CALAX, all the way to Silang...and back.
We did several runs along CALAX that day, along with a drive out to grab some lunch in between. As the day wore on, so did the charge level of the iX3, and we ended the shoot with less than 140 kilometers of range left.
Then there was the matter of getting home.
Day 3, part 2: ...and back
Coming from Laguna, the drive heading home was relatively light save for the long lines at the CALAX tollgates and another long queue before entering SLEX. Part of me was tempted to start hypermiling as my goal was to still have about 100 kilometers of range left by the time I got in front of the house. But in the interest of fairness and finding out its real-world performance, I carried on like I would as if I had a gas-powered car.
I made sure I’d get to 100kph, but left-lane hoggers made it difficult to achieve that. Admittedly, I performed several overtakes, making use of the electric motor’s 282hp output. It was the iX3’s regenerative system that helped to keep range loss at a minimum, drawing energy from the brakes every time I had to get off the accelerator and slow down.
By the time I got to the Bicutan exit, traffic had already built up. It also didn’t help that I spent nearly 15 minutes stopped because of the traffic light by the Taguig People’s Market. By the time I passed the long traffic light, there was 115 kilometers left in the range meter. If I wanted to reach my goal of still having 100km left, I had to drive more efficiently than usual. But in doing that, I would also skew this little real-world test I had planned from the start. Drive as I normally would then.
Traffic was moderate to heavy for most of the way. By the time I had parked up in front of the house, there was still 99 kilometers worth of charge left in its batteries. I fell short of the personal goal, but I was honestly expecting it to be down to around 85 kilometers given the traffic at the time.
The remaining days I had with the iX3 was spent going to the office and returning the car back to BMW. By the time I got to Greenhills, it still showed 62 kilometers of range left in its power reserves. All in all, I did over 240 kilometers with it. I say that’s not bad at all, considering I didn’t get it with a full charge. I reckon the iX3 can do about 380 to 400 kilometers on a single full charge, even in real-world conditions.
Lessons learned
I was honestly skeptical at the prospect of having an EV for an extended period. I thought that it would lose charge quickly and force me to spend an hour at a stopover to charge it. But the iX3 helped me give a better understanding (and appreciation) of electric vehicles and how they perform in the real world. From a personal standpoint, it’s not as scary or anxiety inducing as I thought, and I could say that I feel more comfortable with the prospect of living with an EV.
Of course, I still love fuel-powered cars. I love the sound of Honda’s four-cylinder turbo in the Type R, BMW’s sweet straight-sixes, the burble of a V8. But I’ve also learned that it’s okay to like totally different things. Sure, EVs don’t sing or make noises that make boy racers happy, but it can be a pleasure to have around in a way I didn’t expect.
Perhaps the whole experience can be summed up like this: Celebrate the past, enjoy the present, and embrace the future.
