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I’ve written before about some of the pitfalls of living with the iX xDrive50 — its sheer size and finding chargers near my home, mainly — and also about its many wonderful qualities: its level of comfort, performance and driving pleasure, among others. The one thing I hadn’t written about was how it behaved on a road trip, mainly because I’ve never done a road trip in an EV (if you can believe it). I decided that this anomaly needed to be corrected, so I planned a drive to Bengaluru from Goa, over new year’s eve last year. It was a somewhat… involved process.

First, I downloaded what seemed like a dozen different charging apps. Then I looked up Google maps, to see what kind of charging infrastructure it showed along my route; I also used the various charging apps to check up on this. I did all manner of calculations about kilometres per kilowatt of battery power, in order to try and determine how often I’d have to charge along the 600-km route. Finally, I picked up the keys to my trusty Polo 1.6, tanked it up with many litres of organic, grass-fed petrol and set off.

I’m kidding, of course (but only just — I also considered buying an air ticket instead). I charged the iX up to 90 per cent and hit the road, with my first charging stop scheduled in Hubli, 200 km away. I drove like I would have in any other car, and when I got to Hubli, the battery was down to 35 per cent; I plugged the iX into the 50 kW Hyundai charger and took a 30-minute breakfast break. In that time, the battery went back up to 90 per cent, which was more than sufficient for the 400-km drive to Bengaluru. I drove in and around the city to the tune of about 250km, with chargers available in abundance; special mention must be made of Shell stations, which are by far the best in the country, with clean loos, mini markets and cafes preparing fresh food and beverages. On my way back to Goa, I used the same fast charger in Hubli to juice up.

Overall, road-tripping with the iX wasn’t very different than with an ICE car; it took about as long in terms of overall driving time. What was different was the driving experience — I’m not kidding when I say that the iX is the most comfortable car I’ve ever taken on a long drive; it’s crushingly comfortable, even. Even after around 1500 km of solo driving, I didn’t feel fatigued. Its 517 bhp and 78 kgm made it ideal to slingshot away from tailgaters, and 120 kph cruising was too easy; it handled unbelievably well for its size, and its ride quality was top-tier, even with 22-inch wheels shod with chewing-gum tyres. I got roughly 430 km out of every full charge, in real-world conditions, and I spent just under ` 4,000 on fast charging; with an equivalent petrol car, I would have spent about ` 15,000 on fuel. ‘I could live with this’ I thought.

(record scratch) and then BMW asked for it back, and sent a flatbed for it. Such is life.

Logging IT Out

BMW iX XDRIVE50
Lightens you by:
Rs 1.47 crore (on-road,Mumbai)
Lived with:
Pablo
Odometer reads:
4800 km
Charging habits:
430 km on full charge
@BMW #Motoring