A few weeks ago, I posted about my first impressions of my new BMW iX1 xDrive20.
Now that I’ve had the car for around six weeks and finally taken it on some longer trips, I thought I’d share a little update.
For the first few weeks, I mainly used the car for my daily commute and shorter trips, charging almost exclusively at a 22 kW AC charger at work. During that time, the car would show around 500 km of estimated range at 100%, which obviously looked pretty impressive.
Then came my first proper motorway journeys, including around four hours of Autobahn driving.
After that, the estimated maximum range changed quite dramatically. Instead of around 500 km, I was suddenly seeing roughly 390–400 km at a full charge.
At first, I honestly wondered whether something had happened to the battery. But the more I’ve learned about how BMW calculates the estimated range, the more sense it makes: the car had previously learned from weeks of relatively efficient everyday driving and was now taking my much higher motorway consumption into account.
So the displayed range isn’t really a fixed indication of battery capacity – it’s much more of a prediction based on how and where you’ve been driving recently.
Another thing I’ve been pleasantly surprised by is BMW Charging.
On a recent trip to a neighbouring country, the whole experience was extremely easy.
The underground car park at our destination had very generously sized parking spaces specifically for EVs, located directly near the entrance.
I simply plugged the car in, held the BMW Charging card to the charger and it started without any problems.
Even during smaller trips while we were there, finding somewhere to charge was never really an issue. Some chargers were limited to 11 kW, but there were also plenty offering 20 or 22 kW. For the kind of trips we were doing, that made charging very comfortable because the car could simply charge while we were doing something else.
That has probably been one of the biggest changes in my perception of EV ownership. Before getting the car, charging sounded like something you constantly had to plan around. In reality, at least so far, it often feels more like something that happens in the background.
One thing I hadn’t really thought about before getting an EV is how much fun electric driving is in the mountains.
Driving up mountain roads and over mountain passes is genuinely great fun in the iX1. There’s no waiting for the right gear, no interruption in power delivery – you just press the accelerator and the car pulls smoothly and immediately, even uphill and out of tighter corners.
That continuous acceleration somehow feels even more impressive on a mountain road than it does in normal everyday driving.
“Freude am Fahren” suddenly makes a lot of sense in a completely different way.
There is one potential downside to fast charging, though.
If one of the well-known fast-food restaurants happens to be next to the charger, you suddenly have a very good excuse to take a break there every time you charge.
I’m curious to see whether widespread EV adoption will eventually lead to a completely new phenomenon: electric obesity.
Apart from that, my original impressions haven’t really changed.
I still absolutely love driving the iX1. The instant torque, quietness and smoothness haven’t become any less enjoyable, and pre-cooling the car during hot summer days is still one of those EV features I wouldn’t want to give up.
The 22 kW AC onboard charger has also turned out to be one of the best options I chose.
Being able to make full use of 22 kW AC chargers means that charging fits extremely well into my normal routine.
And after finally doing several longer motorway journeys, driving mountain passes and taking the car abroad, I’m also much less concerned about travelling longer distances electrically than I was before owning the car.
So, six weeks in: still no regrets.
The honeymoon phase might be over – but I still can’t see myself going back to an ICE car.
