BMW iX3 Covers 739 Kilometers In Portugal With 20% Battery Left

The new BMW iX3 has added another impressive long-distance drive to its growing résumé. This time, BMW took its first Neue Klasse model across Portugal on National Road 2, covering 739 kilometers (459 miles) from Chaves in the north to Faro in the south without stopping to recharge. Ana Varela, an actress and BMW Portugal ambassador, drove the iX3 50 xDrive throughout the three-day journey.

Rather than being a tightly controlled laboratory test, the drive took place on public roads. It included a wide variety of conditions, from mountain sections and winding roads to valleys, plains, and smaller towns. After 14 hours behind the wheel, the second-generation iX3 arrived in Faro with a comfortable 20% of battery capacity remaining.

BMW says the car averaged a remarkably low 11.8 kWh/100 km throughout the 739-km journey. That’s an impressive level of efficiency for a heavy electric SUV (aren’t they all?), particularly considering the route wasn’t designed to maximize range.

The New BMW iX3 Can Go Even Farther On A Single Charge

The result is also interesting in context. BMW has already demonstrated just how far the new iX3 can go under controlled conditions. In December 2025, a European-spec iX3 50 xDrive completed a 1,007.7-km (626-mile) drive on a single charge, starting at the Debrecen plant in Hungary and ending at BMW Welt in Munich with 2% battery remaining.

BMW recently put the iX3 through yet another endurance run in China. A long-wheelbase version covered more than 1,030 kilometers (640 miles) from the company’s production facility in Shenyang to its R&D center in Beijing.

The latest Portuguese adventure is therefore less about setting a new outright distance record and more about showing what the iX3 can achieve in everyday driving. The 739-km route is particularly relevant because it combines the sort of varied conditions EV owners encounter on a long road trip.

The iX3 is turning into one of those EVs that keeps producing impressive range stories. A 1,000-km run is spectacular but relatively easy to dismiss as a carefully optimized demonstration. Covering 739 kilometers across an entire country, on public roads and through constantly changing terrain, is arguably more meaningful to the average buyer.

Goodbye To Range Anxiety?

What’s particularly impressive is the 20% remaining at the end. Had BMW wanted to turn this into a hypermiling exercise, the journey could have gone considerably farther. Instead, the drive demonstrates that an iX3 can cover a distance comparable to driving from one end of Portugal to the other without making charging the centerpiece of the trip.

That’s exactly where the Neue Klasse technology starts to make sense. BMW isn’t simply chasing bigger batteries; it’s combining improved aerodynamics, more efficient electric motors, and better energy management to squeeze more miles out of every kilowatt-hour. If these real-world drives are anything to go by, range anxiety is becoming increasingly difficult to justify in the latest-generation iX3.

Of course, this was still a BMW-endorsed road trip, so it’s understandable to be skeptical about the result. Nevertheless, there’s no denying that the Neue Klasse technology makes range anxiety less of an issue compared with previous-generation EVs. Real-world results will ultimately vary depending on speed, weather, terrain, and other factors, but the iX3 is making a very convincing case for itself as a long-distance EV.