BMW completed a nearly 5,900-kilometer journey from the North Cape to Tarifa with the new i3 50 xDrive. According to the manufacturer, the electric 3-series required a total of only 2 hours and 46 minutes for recharging.

It is November. Here in Northern Europe, the weather is turning cold, and for many in the Northern Hemisphere, thoughts are already drifting towards next summer’s holiday — perhaps somewhere in the south, like southern France or Spain. Or maybe a road trip right across Europe. And for those planning such a trip in an electric car, alongside hotel costs, tolls, and the question of how many pairs of shoes can realistically fit in the suitcase, there is usually one more factor to consider: charging time. BMW has now made this calculation significantly easier.

For the 5,886.7-kilometre journey from the North Cape at the top of Norway to Tarifa in Spain, the charging time for the new i3 50 xDrive added up to just 2 hours, 45 minutes, and 54 seconds. The so-called ‘Paneuropeana’ route took the BMW through eight countries. The focus was not on achieving the shortest driving time but explicitly on minimising charging time at predefined checkpoints. The team was free to choose which publicly accessible fast-charging stations to use and could tailor the route to the most powerful charging infrastructure, as well as weather and traffic conditions.

BMW states that the average charging power for the entire trip was 275 kW. With this, the i3 beat the previous Paneuropeana record from 2017 by more than seven hours.

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