BMW’s iX electric SUV has been India’s bestselling luxury EV for the past two years. The carmaker has recently introduced a new xDrive50 variant, which gets more power and a larger battery; it was only available in xDrive40 variant since launch. We’ve put both these variants through our instrumented tests to find out their real-world range and efficiency.

• iX 40 has a 77kWh battery; iX 50 gets a larger 111.5kWh unit
• Test conducted in Efficiency mode with Level 2 regen

BMW iX real world range explained

The iX xDrive50 makes 523hp and 765Nm, and packs in a 111.5kWh battery that has a claimed range of 635km (WLTP). In our combined city and highway tests, the iX xDrive50 delivered a real-world range of 504km, with an efficiency of 4.8km/kWh.

In comparison, the outgoing iX xDrive40 put out 326hp and 630Nm, had a 77kWh battery and a claimed WLTP range of 425km. Unsurprisingly, the iX xDrive40 managed a lower real-world range of 356km and a lower efficiency of 4.63km/kWh.

For our range test, we drove the cars as per our testing standards – in its most efficient drive mode with its regen set to Level 2. However, we experienced high ambient temperatures (35-40-degC), which likely impacted the efficiency and range of both models.

Autocar India’s range testing

Before our real-world range test, the battery of our test car was fully charged, and we maintained tyre pressures in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendation. The car was driven in a fixed loop in the city, and on the highway, and we maintained certain average speeds. This test was conducted with two people in the car, and we swapped drivers after each loop to further neutralise variations in driver patterns. At the end, we calculated the range based on the percentage of charge consumed. Throughout our test, the climate control was set to 22 degC in full-auto setting, and other electricals like the audio system, lights and ventilated front seats were used when required, just like how a regular user would. We take pride in our testing data, which isn’t merely consistent, but also gives users an accurate indication of what they can expect in the real world.