BMW’s new i3 drove 753 miles on a single charge, a BMW record

BMW has put a long-wheelbase i3 sedan through 753 miles (1,213 km) on one charge without stopping, the longest distance any BMW electric vehicle has covered. The run was reported on Oct. 15, the same day the company announced that series production of its newest high-voltage battery had begun in Shenyang, China.

Save more, waste less: The Cool Down’s newsletter sends smart, simple changes that help you and the planet in your everyday life.

Subscribe to The Cool Down →

We may earn a commission if you sign up.

The car was not the i3 that American buyers can order. It was the i3 50L, a stretched version developed specifically for China, and the distance it covered says more about the battery chemistry and cell format underneath it than about any one road trip.

The i3 50L and its Gen6 cells

According to Electrek’s report on the run, the i3 50L carries a 113.4 kWh battery built from Gen6 cylindrical cells, on an 800-volt architecture that accepts up to 400 kW of fast charging. BMW says the system can add 248 miles (400 km) of range in 10 minutes. The car was unveiled at the Chengdu Auto Show in August, and the 753-mile drive mixed highways, city streets and rural roads.

The efficiency figure is the part that makes the distance plausible: 8.8 kWh per 100 km over the whole trip. That is lower than the 12.6 kWh per 100 km BMW logged in its June prototype run in cold, hilly conditions, and a full 113.4 kWh pack at 8.8 kWh per 100 km is consistent with a trip of more than 1,200 km, so the 753-mile distance does not depend on an unusual battery size alone.

The cells themselves are new. In its press release on the start of Gen6 production in Shenyang, dated Oct. 15, BMW says the cylindrical cells offer more than 20 percent higher energy density than the previous generation, with charging speed and range each improving by up to 30 percent. Dr. Raymond Wittmann, the member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for production, is the executive quoted in the release, which says the batteries will power future Neue Klasse all-electric models built in China.

A brand record, not a global one

BMW is careful about the claim. The company described the result as the longest covered by any BMW EV to date, and, in the words Electrek quotes, “a brand record, not a global one.” The benchmark that still stands is the Mercedes Vision EQXX, which covered 1,202 km from Germany to the United Kingdom in 2022. At 1,213 km, the BMW run edges past that distance by 11 km, but because BMW does not claim the global title, the comparison is the reporter’s rather than the company’s.

It also helps to separate a demonstration from a rating. The i3 50L carries a China-cycle (CLTC) range of more than 621 miles (1,000 km), so the 753 miles on the road came in well above the figure on the spec sheet. The report does not say who drove, how fast, or how long the run took, and those gaps matter if the number is to be read as a guide to what an owner could expect from ordinary driving.

BMW has done this kind of test before. In June it drove a prototype of the iX3 50L long-wheelbase variant around Qinghai Lake in China, as Electrek reported at the time. That run covered about 500 miles (over 800 km) at 12.6 kWh per 100 km, in conditions that included heavy snow, rain and strong high-altitude sun, and ended with 2 percent of the battery left. The new figure is roughly 250 miles longer, in a car with a bigger pack. The earlier test, on a route with nearly 2,000 meters of climbing, is a reminder that BMW is deliberately running its Chinese long-wheelbase cars through very different conditions, from mountain weather to the highway, city and rural mix of the latest drive.

What American buyers actually get

The record car is not the one on sale in the United States. Per Electrek’s comparison of the American i3 and iX3, the 2027 i3 50 xDrive starts at $61,500 with up to 468 miles of range, and uses a 108.7 kWh battery rather than the 113.4 kWh pack in the China version. The report also lists the same 800-volt system, a NACS port, and a 10 to 80 percent charge in about 21 minutes. A 36-month lease was quoted at $784 a month, about $78 less than the equivalent iX3.

The iX3 sets the template. When BMW opened preorders for the American iX3, the $61,500 Sport trim carried a headline range of up to 434 miles that required the no-cost 20-inch summer tires, while the standard all-season tires were rated at 383 miles. That asymmetry is a useful reminder that the largest range number on a brochure usually belongs to a specific tire and trim.

For China, the i3 50L is expected to go on sale later this year, with deliveries starting in the first quarter of 2027, according to the Electrek report. Whether a version of the stretched car ever reaches American showrooms is not addressed in any of the records reviewed, and BMW has made no such announcement there.

What the 753 miles does establish is a direction for the Gen6 generation: bigger energy density, faster charging, and consumption low enough that a single stop becomes optional on most journeys. Buyers will judge it on EPA labels and winter range, but the company now has a number to point to.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

Save more, waste less: Subscribe to The Cool Down →

We may earn a commission if you sign up.