2025 BMW X3 PLUG-IN HYBRID RANGE TEST

I will first test the driving range on regional roads. I wanted to find out the maximum range of this car by testing it at lower average speeds. I do the test at night so as not to be bothered by too much traffic. At the start of the test, the battery is fully charged to 100%. It says 79 km on the range indicator. I did the test in December and it was about 10 degrees at the start of the test.

Before I get to the regional roads, I have to get out of Brussels. In terms of consumption, this is frankly no gift for starting this test. On the contrary, in city traffic, I have a consumption of 24.2 kWh per 100 km. After 15 km of fairly heavy city traffic, I have already used almost a quarter of the battery. There’s only 65 km of range left on the meter when I finally get to the regional roads, where you can drive fast.

At a first intermediate measurement at half battery, the consumption has already dropped to 21.1 kWh per 100 km. I have already driven 45 km and the range indicator now shows 44 km. That is already promising. Meanwhile, the temperature has dropped to 7 degrees.

With a battery at 25% it still shows 22 km range on the indicator. I have now driven almost 75 km and am at 20 kWh per 100 km of consumption. For the final spurt I leave the regional roads and head back towards town. Let’s just look at the end result. The maximum driving range of the BMW X3 PHEV is 96.6 km range when the combustion engine kicked back on. That’s pretty impressive and more than the WLTP range, despite the lower temperatures. I estimate that a little more range would have been possible, without the city traffic.

Ok now we know the maximum driving range. But what is the minimum driving range now? For this I am going to drive the battery empty on the highway at higher average speeds.The battery has been recharged. Now there is 92 km range on the indicator. I start the test for practical reasons at 8:30 am in Brussels. I enter the freeway and at the beginning I had to slow down a bit to be able to drive smoothly at 120 km/h afterwards. The temperature is around 7.5 degrees. Halfway through, I am at a consumption of 22.4 kWh per 100 km, have driven 34 km and still have 45 km on the range indicator. Let’s look at the end result right away. I drive the battery completely empty and at 72.8 km the battery is completely empty and the combustion engine kicks back on. I note that the average consumption stands at 23.1 kWh per 100 km.

Now let’s look at how long it takes to charge the battery. In terms of charging technology, the X3 features an on-board charger capable of AC charging at 11 kW. The battery can thus be charged from 0% to 100% in 2h15 according to BMW. I start my practical test at 5% and on the dashboard I can read that it will take 2h11 min to go from 5% to 100%. In 2h15 from 0% to 100% will be correct then.

You cannot fast charge with the X3. That’s still a small downside, because with Mercedes, for example, some plug-in hybrids also allow you to fast charge. If you can charge at home, it doesn’t matter so much, but if you have to charge publicly, I would still find it more convenient to be able to fast charge as well. What do you guys think about this? Would you also like to be able to fast charge with a plug-in hybrid? Let me know in the comments.

With the previous generation, you could also fully charge the battery while driving. After some sleuthing, I found out that you can also do this to a very limited extent with the latest generation. There is a function charge state maintained. I did a test on the highway. After 22 min of driving at 120 km/h and covering a distance of 35 km, it added 7 km of range. I have the impression that you can’t get more than that 7 km. Consumption during that drive was 9.2 l per 100 km.

Speaking of fuel consumption, I took a test drive, started with a completely empty battery. After 172 km, I ended up with a consumption of 8.3 l/100 km, including 34 km electric. Wonder how much driving range you have, only on fuel. Well the capacity of the tank is 50 liters and at a consumption of, say, 8.3l per 100 km, you can drive about 600 km that way.

One last thing you might wonder about is what about performance on an empty battery. I did an acceleration test with a battery sufficiently charged and then another acceleration test with a dead battery. I haven’t noticed a big difference with that. With just the electric motor, you have 184 horsepower. With that you have a top speed of 140 km/h. On the gasoline engine alone, you have 190 hp. I did have the impression that with an empty battery I had more power than 190 hp. So maybe some of that capacity, is kept available for boost.

As a conclusion, I can say that the range of the BMW X3 xDrive30e Plug-In Hybrid is between 96 km on regional roads and 72 km on the highway. This at lower temperatures of around 7 to 10 degrees. In very heavy city traffic, I think you will also get closer to that 72 km range. All in all, very nice results. In summer, you’re going to be able to possibly get slightly better numbers out of that.