David NicholsonA rundown with stats on our first major touring holiday in the BMW iX3 from London to Champagne, Switzerland, the Ardeche, Provence, Occitaine, the Dordogne, the Loire valley and Normandy.
The tip turned out to be 2,615 miles or 4,209km as a round trip from SW London…Is a BMW iX3 perfect for the EV for a Europe road trip and what did it cost to charge…
The iX3…built like a hippo to go the distance
- The big mouth gulps down energy fast at up to 400kW, managing a 10-80% feast in 21 mins on 800v chargers and a still rapid 200kW at 400v chargers. Even at a free AC hotel charger the optional 22kW capability will fill that tummy completely in around 5 hours.
- The big tummy stores lots of energy. In fact that full tummy 107.8 kWh can get you 400 miles on a mix of roads
- The efficient legs lets you make the most of that energy (especially at 80-120kmh or 50-75mph and even refill that tummy whenever you would usually brake to slow down. That power from “regen” goes back in the battery to use again later and offsets the power needed to propel a fairly heavy “hippo” forwards.
Other key stats from the trip were
- Efficiency 3.63 miles per kWh or 17.1 kWh per 100km
Would you get more efficiency from a Tesla? Well the Just get a Tesla channel posted their trip stats on a trip in Spain and back through France (outbound on ferry) and the efficiency of their Model Y was… 3.6 miles per kWh - Average speed over the trip was 40.5mph or 65.3 kmh
Sounds slow? Well it includes everything the 120-130kmh runs on French autoroutes to 80-110 on route nationales to villages at 50/30/20kmh along with some very slow single track Ardeche roads with blind bends, deep gulleys and rare passing places. - Total power consumption was 733.5kWh for £200/ Eur 235 over 2,615 miles/ 4,209km
So yes you read that right. Charging cost £200 for £2,615 miles! Had it not been for the car harvesting energy largely from braking and going down hills the consumption would have been 995kWh. So “regen” as it’s commonly known reduced the charging bill for the trip by around 26% - Total charging on the round trip totalled 778.8 kWh after deducting remaining battery SOC on return. That suggests charging losses between charger and battery were 5.8%. That’s actually very impressive. By comparison What Car found a Model Y lost over 10% in one test.
The Route Map
Driving Style for a reasonably efficient trip
- Generally I stuck to speed limits. Zones with limits between 20-50kmh are very pretty efficient
- On 130kmh limit roads my default speed was 120kmh where traffic allowed but at 130kmh for some sections and for regular overtaking traffic
- Where there was a toll free route nationale offering better efficiency and similar journey times compared to the Autoroute I took it. Essentially these roads have 80-110kmh limits plus the odd town and roundabouts while using a more direct route.
- It’s also worth remembering that this iX3 has an efficient spec including the most efficient wheels and no glass roof which in 30-35c should cut AC power needed to a small degree. In the trip we used eco mode but then adjusted temperature to bring back AC, an absolute requirement at these temperatures. We did not use the max range mode at all because we needed AC.
- According to BMW’s monthly report our iX3 was more efficient than 75% of BMW drivers in August, 87% in July and 97% in May. We forgot to note June but have reported the main trip here.
Charging
Ionity⚡
BMW charging provides UK owners discounted charging with various networks (see iX3 tips article) including Ionity membership discounts free for the first year. In France this offered all Ionity chargers for Eur 0.37 per kWh. The exchange rate varied by date but worked out at UK 31.45p per kWh for these chargers which were all 350kW to 400kW and well located. It was my primary network for the trip. Impressively after a slightly shaky start on our UK tests. Plug and charge worked faultlessly on every French Ionity charger. No apps, no payment card or RFID. Just plug in and it works.
Fastned⚡
Fastned has a good reputation and also gives a discount via the BMW card. On the BMW app the price shown is Eur 0.61 per kWh but on my BMW invoice later I was billed at the same 0.37 or 31.45p per kWh as Ionity. A nice surprise.
Hotel charging⚡
- Hotels provided additional charging. One was a fixed Eur 25 fee. I added 51kWh* so the price was Eur 0.50 per kWh or 42.5p per kWh. (*it’s worth noting the trip and charging stats disagree and I probably added 57% or around 61 kWh)
- Just before you think Hotels were the most expensive way to charge the following hotels had free charging and added 41kWh in Ardeches, 23kWh in Provence, 61kWh near Nantes. So that’s 125 kWh free.
- It was only when I tried the hapless Total Energies chargers in Normandy that I had to pay again. £7.66 (Eur 8.93) got me 17kWh which worked out at 45p or Eur 0.52 per kWh.
- In all then 193kWh of hotel charging cost Eur 0.17 per kWh or 14 pence.
Overall Stats🪫
- Difference between London departure (100%) and arrival (71%) – 31.5 kWh used
- French Public chargers – 541kWh via the BMW app cost Eur 200.17 or £170.14.
- French Hotels – Eur 33.93 (£28.91) for 193kWh of charging at a trip average of just Eur 0.319 per kWh or 27.1p.
- That suggests 765.5 kWh was added for £199.05 with around 5% charging losses
| Date | kWh added | miles per 4kW | Cost / miles | Cost per mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18th May 2026 | 91.81 | 4 | £45.66 / 367 miles | 12.4p |
| Efficiency based on mix of A and B roads and motorway in 15C temps. Charging cost mix of local 22kW Believ at 56p and off peak chargy at 39p =49.73p average per kWh |
||||
| 13th June 2026 | 262.3 | 3.5 | £143.81/ 915 miles | 15.7 |
| As detailed in the 915 mile iX3 UK road trip report. Mainly motorway in varied UK weather conditions. Av price 54p/kWh |
||||
| 21st July-12th August 2026 | 733kWh consumption | 3.63 | £199.05/ 2,615 miles | 7p |
| Touring France whole trip stats over 4,209km. Efficiency was 17.1kWh/100km | ||||
1. London to arrival in Chalons en Champagne
- 335 miles/ 540 km driven
- 🪫Dep 100% arrival 40%
- ⚡1 charge en route so from London without this would have arrived with 9% and without St Omer and Bip repair diversions battery on arrival would have been in double digits
- Section Miles per kWh/ Speed
London to Channel tunnel 3.83/ 41.7mph
Calais to Hotel 3.33/ 53.1 mph
We left home in London having used one of our street lamp post chargers to reach 100% state of charge. On an iX3 that’s a whole 108.7 kWh of energy to play with. We set off at 8.24am UK time and got the the Channel tunnel barriers at 10.18am (11.18am French time). 2 Hours later we disembarked in Calais which, in the dilapidated state Eurotunnel is now in, is a bit of a result. 4 hours from barrier to arrival is becoming more typical.
🍴French lesson 1 – lunchtime
12 till 2 lunchtime in most of France. When they say 2pm it doesn’t mean arriving then. This is what we rapidly learnt during a slow and fruitless exploration of St Omer. In most places then aim to start lunch between 12 and 1 or just grab something on the motorway. Trying to find a restaurant open at 2.02pm isn’t worth the stress! lesson learnt!
Talking of stress…we use the excellent Bip and Go device so that we can sail through the French toll gates and be billed automatically. Always be prepared to stop and also remember gates at entry and exit from the autoroute don’t usually open till you briefly stop. Brilliant system except our badge which had always worked before.. didn’t work at all. It needed replacing urgently and luckily there is a Bip and Go shop just off the A26 near Arras. Less luckily the BMW and even apple maps have no clue how to reach it. It’s next to an autoroute exit but if you don’t take the Arras turning and continue into the Aire or services your only way to the shop is.. about 30 mins drive away after continuing to the next junction. It turns out Google maps is the only map that can actually find it although if you can find the Gendarmarie nationale next door that would work. We finally swapped our naughty gadget (luckily it wasn’t lunchtime) and updated our account to the new numberplate.
After all that we stopped at some services, grabbed a quick sandwich and plugged into the chargers
⚡🪫Charging on this leg
Ionity charger +31%
8 mins
🪫43%-74%
35kWh. av speed 235kW
We didn’t really need that charge before plugging in at the hotel in Chalon en Champagne but we were next to them anyway and it meant we were fine if there was any issue at the hotel
After a lovely evening and dinner in Chalons we woke the next day with 97% charge. (I’d unplugged the night before so another EV could use it)
2. Chalons en Champagne to arrival in Breitenbach Switzerland
- 259 miles / 418 km
- 🪫Dep 97% /arrival 80%
- ⚡1 charge +43%
- Section Miles per kWh/ Speed
Chalons to Epinal 3.7/ 50.8 mph
Epinal to top of Ballons 2.57/ 42.3mph
Top of Ballons to Breitenbach 6.17/ 35.9 mph
Our route wasn’t quite as per the image above as we took the more direct route on the Route Nationale via St Dixier (and its very active fighter base) to lunch in the lovely town of Epinal then over the pass at Ballon D’Alsace (with a walk to the peak) before a final French charge before crossing into Switzerland at Dell (a good manned customs post to purchase the required Swiss vignette). We then took a road that frequently crosses the Swiss and French borders.
⚡🪫Charging on this leg
Ionity charger +43%
28 mins
🪫49%-92%
51kWh. av speed 133kW
Slow because it was 49-92% and we got distracted in a French supermarket) but it also meant we could skip any Swiss charging
Lunch stop – We really enjoyed the Bistrot Gourmand in Epinal and it was good value. The Ballon d’Alsace is a lovely spot to stretch your legs although after you descend the straightest route is a very slow drive through joined up villages with limits of 30kmh and even 20 kmh. Might look at alternatives again.
3. Breitenbach to arrival in Ardeche
- 64 miles/ 103km local trips in Switzerland +339 miles/ 457 km to Ardeches (Faugeres)
- 🪫Dep 68% arrival 76%
- ⚡charge 1 added 56% / charge 2 added 29%
- Section stats miles per kWh/ Av speed
Local Swiss drives 64 miles
4.56/ 28.3mph
2.02/ 23.2mph
71/ 21.4mph
5.34/ 27.6 mph
Breitenbach to Ardeche miles 339 miles
4/ 46.8mph
As you can see from the extraordinary variation in efficiency on the local drives in Switzerland in Canton Solothurn, some friends we were visiting were over a mountain and some were on a mountain followed by a drive down afterwards!
The drive to the Ardeches was theoretically motorway but some Swiss “motorways” turn out to be A roads that are single lane and become normal city streets in places like Biel. After a long proper motorway section you then get very slow winding D roads into the Ardeche after crossing the Rhone valley.
⚡🪫Charging on this leg
Ionity charger Annecy +56%
28 mins
🪫33%-89%
67kWh. av speed 140kW
First charge was needed and longer as we grabbed some lunch.
⚡Fastned charger Valence +29%
2+22 mins
62%-91%
35 kWh. av speed 92kW
This charge was precautionary as we didn’t know what the charging situation at the fairly remote hotel would be. It turned out they both available and free (for now). While the Fastned charge was at a high SOC it still disappointed with the first charger only managing 55kW peak and 38kW average speed over 2 mins before I switched to a unit that delivered 171 kW peak and a decent average.
4. Ardeche to arrival in Salons en Provence
- 108.6 miles/ 175 km to Provence
- 🪫Dep 100% arrival 74%
- ⚡No charging on route. Charged to 100% at hotel before departure.
- Section Miles per kWh/ Speed
Local Ardeche drives 44.5 miles
22.7/ 14.7mph
1.88/ 19.2mph
3.83 /15.1mph
2.94/ 15.7 mph
17.54/ 22.3 mph
2.22/ 27.4 mph
12.04/ 12.4mph
Ardeche to Provence 108.6 miles split
Ardeche to Uzes 4.56/ 30.9mph
Uzes to Pont du Gard 4.06/ 23.4mph
Pont du Gard to Hotel above Salons en Provence 3.44/ 40 mph
The 44 miles of local drives don’t reflect the fact that we didn’t travel but that the travel was very very slow! We went Kayaking and had meals at the hotel and outside. What is does reflect is most of the local roads close to us were single track, blind bends and big gulleys either side of the tarmac. Oncoming cars were rare but even some passing places were tricky in a car sized like an iX3! Even many wider roads didn’t quite qualify for a full stripe marking between the 2 directions and were more of a slow and hope you’re not both too wide sort of arrangement.
🛏️ Domaine de Chalveches
Aside from time getting around (due to the slow narrow roads) this Hotel was fab. Great staff.. effective and friendly. Pool was small and not aimed at young kids but was very relaxing with a bar sometimes open and pool service for drinks. Restaurant menu is not big but mostly a very good standard. There is a wide variety of accommodation on offer.
The drive
We enjoyed the city of Uzes. Beautiful and relaxing and the Pont du Gard is a must see close by.
5. Salons en Provence to arrival in Carcassonne
- 190 miles/ 306 km to Carcassonne
- 🪫Dep 53% arrival 79%
- ⚡Single charge for 24 minutes added 74%
- Section Miles per kWh/ Speed
Provence drives 142.5 miles
-8.26/ 14.1 mph (yes this trip added 0.4 kWh to the battery)
1.21/ 15.5mph (but then back up to the top of the same hill)
4.8/ 22.5mph (12 miles starting high ending low)
3.17/ 24.2mph (same trip in reverse)
4.34m/ 28.7mph (43.miles to the coast past Marseille) to Calanque de Morgiou (access road generally closed to vehicles)
3.34/ 39.3 mph (59 miles longer but faster road avoiding Marseille on return)
1.53/ 18.5mph (short trip uphill after shopping)
-8.26/ 12.3mph (filling the batter down the hill again)
1.36 / 18.4mph (back up to the hotel again)
Provence to Carcassonne 182 miles split
Salons to Nimes 4.54/ 37.8mph
Nimes to Beziers 3.32/ 53.9mph
Beziers to Carcassonne 2.71/ 45.2mph
Hotel charger before departure on standard plug +18%
11 hours 41 mins
🪫35-53%
23kWh. Av speed 2.1 kW
Slow charge – I don’t usually mention hotel chargers but I decided to top up despite the main hotel chargers having been offline for months.. using a standard electricity socket under the charger. The panoramic display said the car would charge to “100% on 0108 at 9.28”.I was initially confused by the 0108 till I noticed on the BMW app that, on this plug it would take 3.5 days to charge from 35% to 100%!. As it turned out this little hotel 2.1kW socket did however enable us to carry on to Capendu Ionity before charging again, the only charge in 420 miles since leaving Ardeche..
🛏️ Garrigae Abbaye de Saint Croix
Former Abbey this high end hotel is amazing with fab views but sadly service, staff and food all disappointed so we would not recommend. With the right management this could be an amazing destination hotel. At the moment nothing quite works.. including the chargers.
🖊️iX3 notes – Inactive Matrix LED
Matrix LED is amazing technology and German luxury carmakers were widely considered to have mastered it, well before Tesla mastered it in their highland Model 3 that I used previously. Instead of dipping the whole beam when another driver might be blinded by your lights it just scans where they are and creates a shadow towards just them. As a result you’re more likely to read signs or spot a running deer than when using a traditional dipped beam.
Having not needed to drive at night during long summer days in UK it was coming back from a French restaurant that I finally got to see BMW’s optional headlamps in action… and they were a disaster. Whether my car has a fault, or a setting needs adjustment or BMW need to redo their software what I experienced was
- On a windy mountainous road out of town the auto-beam function resolutely remained dipped and no active matrix function worked for more than brief moments on a 30 minute plus drive whether or not any other cars were there.
- When I found the control to manually adjust my UK car for right hand drive things barely improved. The high and low beam started to work but just like a traditional headlamp.
I haven’t actually done a night drive on the new iX3 in UK yet (long summer days haven’t need them but will test here then get the dealer to check out if there is a hardware or software fault or a setting is wrong. In my experience in France active matrix should be termed inactive matrix and was pretty much useless even on empty windy roads.
The drive
The drive to Carcassonne was mainly motorway but we made 2 lovely stops. Nimes is bigger but has a Roman colosseum (best to see outside rather than paying to enter until summer shows and building work is finished). It also has the Roman temple pictured. Next was Beziers – free parking if you can find it. Local signage is poor and the BMW’s own nav couldn’t find this big car park – I needed apple maps! Walk over the pedestrian old bridge and then a free lift takes you the beautiful and arty old town.
⚡🪫Charging on this leg
Ionity charger nr Capendu +74%
24 mins
🪫9-83%
89kWh. av speed 217kW
Really needed this stop although we could have reached the hotel in
Carcassonne without it. Busy charging station so I actually disconnected before my family
got back from the service area.
6. Carcassonne to arrival in La Roque-Gageac (Dordogne)
- 164 miles/ 265 km to Dordogne
- 🪫Dep 79% arrival 38%
- ⚡no charging needed
- Section Miles per kWh/ Speed
Carcassonne drives – zero
Carcassonne to Dordogne 164 miles split
Carcassonne to Cahors 3.83/ 52mph
Cahors to La Roque Gageac 3.44 (27.4)
🪰French lesson 2 – Bugs
One odd thing as the Hippo doesn’t exactly look like it’s designed to protect insect life as you power the length of France and back is.. the iX3 didn’t kill many bugs at all. Over the entire trip I once used water and a paper towel to clean a few small locations on the window that the wiper couldn’t deal with but even that wasn’t strictly needed. I’m not pretending the BMW has any special power to protect our insect life.. more that it appears there has been a massive reduction in the number of flying insects in France and other countries. On my first trip to France around 40 years ago my impression was even my tiny Fiat Uno killed more insects in a day or 2 of driving than I found stuck to the BMW after 3 weeks. Different farming methods, habitat loss, climate change and overpowered pesticides all play a role but the end result is a tragedy.
I decided to ask “Claude” if it could find any stats on insect population stats in France and the rest of Europe. The German “Krefeld Study” found an 82% fall in mid summer flying insect biomass over 27 years from 1989-2016. In the UK a flying insect splat count survey (counting insects squashed on vehicle number plates) found that between 2004 and 2023 flying insect numbers were down 83% in England, 79% in Wales and 76% in Scotland. The survey was led by Kent Wildlife Trust and Buglife.
🛏️ The Tribe hotel
A real find. Perched by the river looking towards the walls off Carcassonne from the main city side. Rooms are small (esp WC!) but really well organised and staff were great. Little touches like free water coolers on every floor and rooftop terrace sealed the deal. Underground parking for the iX3 was really good and we didn’t need to do any drives as there was so much to explore on foot. Good value and recommended.
The Drive
Mix of motorway and departmental roads. We stopped for lunch in Cahors. While not much was open for Sunday lunch we had a excellent very fresh lunch of local produce (mainly meats and cheeses with fresh salad) at Les Petits Producteurs. Despite a queue for outside tables staff were excellent and kept their cool in the heat!
On the final bit of the drive we noticed a local farmer that had used an unusual choice of scarecrow in his field! Whatever scares the birds I guess!
7. La Roque-Gageac to arrival in Chenenceaux
- 230 miles/ 370km to Chenenceaux
- Dep 28% arrival 65%
- ⚡charge stop 1 for 18 minutes added 37% (18-55%)
⚡charge stop 2 for 20 mins added 65% (13-78%) - Section Miles per kWh/ Speed
Dordogne local drives 35.8 miles
2.85/ 12.4 mph
3.28/ 16.9mph
3.06/ 14.2mph
0/ 18 mph (started high on 3.5 mile trip)
3.11 / 16.6 mph
3.05/ 21mph
2.63/ 14.2mph
10.1/ 15.9mph
Dordogne to Chenenceaux 3.37/ 49.4 mph
🛏️Le Coin Tranquille
We stayed at the Coin Tranquille, a B&B run by a lovely couple. They were super helpful, breakfast and accommodation were really good and if you don’t mind the up and down you can walk to and from town on traffic-free routes.
Special mention too to Les Pres Gaillardou a few km away. We only chose it because it was about the only place open in the middle of a big thunderstorm and the food turned out to be great value and excellent.
🖊️iX3 small notes –
- ➕When you’re on the road bringing up the route info with traffic and turn details it includes information on the next fast charging option on your route. Good although knowing the charging speed and price without more presses would be even better
- ➖One rear door handle only pops out about 20% of the time which is annoying but also safety critical after an accident. I hope this is a rare issue and will take it to the dealer.
- ➖High bonnet and window line means I sometimes had to ask passengers if a vehicle was approaching on hairpins on the passenger side. We also had one road with a sharp up to down summit and the road ahead was entirely obscured by the iX3’s big bonnet facing skyward! Rare I know.
- ➕One place we stayed was up a steep driveway passing through narrow gates with a big drop on one side. The parking reverse assistant meant reversing back to the road as we came in was easy and stress free
- ➖Sending map locations from google maps on an iPhone should work perfectly. We found it hit and miss and that the best solution was to send a location to the BMW app on your phone and then to the car.
- ➖Locked out! I left my phone on the car’s charger when I exited the vehicle but noticed extremely quickly. Trouble is the iX3 had already locked itself (with my “phone key” inside. Now I had sent a spare key pass to my wife before the holiday. Maybe it was her phone that caused the car to lock as we walked away. Certainly without her phone we would not have got back in! A warning when a phone is left on the charger would also be useful
- ➖My iX3 has the main display, the panoramic i-drive display and a heads up. We noticed a noticeable lag on the main display with roundabouts and closely positioned motorway exits often displayed in a confusing delayed way that increases the chances of taking wrong turns. As a I say the 2 other displays had no such lag so in the end I didn’t look at the main display when I had a complex junction layout to deal with.. eg 2 motorway exits close together with only 200 metres between them
- ➕When the BMW nav works well it’s very good and the panoramic display gives a nice clear layout of lanes you need
- ➖The trouble is when you’re in a tunnel under Marseille with 2 forks one after the other and neither is a turn off.. do you get lane guidance? Nope. Some well established restaurants aren’t in the locations list either. Finally when you arrive in Carcassonne and your hotel requires navigating a route to avoid summer pedestrianised roads will the BMW send you down them anyway. Yes it will. In that situation the fact that the nav button alternates between BMW and your chosen phone map is very handy.
- ➕Range is so long that you can usually easily skip more expensive charging options or in my case all charging in Switzerland. This can drastically cut trip costs.
Take me to the Chateau
A little example of when the BMWs routing got confused and I chose apple to complete the journey, Same location, same destination! I believe the BMW routing was confused because the original route it selected was a private road behind gates!
⚡🪫Charging on this leg
Ionity charger nr Cressensac-Sarrazac +37%
18 mins
🪫18-55%
43kWh. av speed 123kW/ 245kW
First charge since Carcassonne 244 miles or 394km earlier. Started well at 347kW but after 4 mins dropped to a flat 66kW.
Not sure of the cause but disconnected and reconnected to same charger for a 245kW average for the last 2 mins from 48-55%
Ionity charger nr Deals +65%
20 mins
🪫13-78%
79kWh. av speed 237kW
Much more impressive than the prev stop
8. Chenenceaux to arrival in Nantes
- 166 miles/ 268 km to Nantes
- 🪫Dep 63% arrival 56%
- ⚡Single charge stop for 12 minutes added 34% (45-79%)
- Section Miles per kWh/ Speed
Chenanceaux local drives
4.14/ 15.2 mph
4.04/ 8.3mph
2.8/ 9.6 mph
Single charge stop 1 for 12 minutes added 34% (45-79%)
Section Miles per kWh/ Speed
Chenanceaux local drives
4.14/ 15.2 mph
4.04/ 8.3mph
2.8/ 9.6 mph
Chenenceaux to Nantes 166 miles (Sorinieres) split
Azay Le Rideau 4.69/ 38.9mph
Rigne-Usse 3.87/ 29.3 mph
Nantes 3.44/ 57.1 mph
🛏️Auberge du Bon Laboureur Chenanceaux
Charming more luxury end hotel with super helpful and friendly front of house staff. Unlike the Michelin website we were less keen on the Bistrot restaurant with small portions, high prices (esp wine) and erratic service. Luckily there are more options than google maps suggests inc the boulangerie 1 min away for a morning coffee and pastry and 2 other restaurants within 3 mins walk. Being in town and able to walk to the Chateau and wine tasting was a boon. The Canoe Club Chisseaux Kayak Family a short drive away were amazing, super friendly with no time limit to head to the Chateau and beyond and a lovely drink on the house afterwards. Cash needed.
⚡🪫Charging on this leg
Ionity charger nr Longue-Jumelles +34%
12 mins
🪫45-79%
41kWh. av speed 196kW
Peaked at 311kW starting from 45%
9 Nantes to arrival in Honfleur (Normandy)
- 232 miles/ 374 km to Honfleur
- 🪫Dep 100% arrival 40%
- Section Miles per kWh/ Speed
Chenanceaux local drives
4.14/ 15.2 mph
4.04/ 8.3mph
2.8/ 9.6 mph
Chenenceaux to Nantes 166 miles (Sorinieres) split
Azay Le Rideau 4.69/ 38.9mph
Rigne-Usse 3.87/ 29.3 mph
Nantes 3.44/ 57.1 mph
🛏️Abbaye de Villneuve
Situated outside Nantes at one of the locations the iX3 sat nav struggled with this place was fab. Everything the previous Abbey wasn’t with great staff esp reception and pool and restaurant, excellent food (you really need to book before you arrive) and lovely well kept buildings. Charging was free and fast but they use a French operator that only lets French mobile numbers register to start a charge. Rather absurd as they list every country code on the planet but can’t send you a code! Luckily reception have a card to start your charge by hand.
The Drive
The whole 232 miles was done without charging although we would have plugged in at 61% when we were stopping at chargers anyway. They were busy so we didn’t.
10 Honfleur to arrival in London
- 261 miles/ 420 km to London
- 🪫Dep 53% arrival 71%
- ⚡Hotel chargers +13%
- ⚡Single charge stop 58 minutes during lunch added 93% (4% to 97%)
- Section Miles per kWh/ Speed
Honfleur local drives – zero
Honfleur to London split
2.1 miles to Leclerc supermarket 3.59/ 14.6mph
167 miles to Calais charger 3.23/ 62.8 mph
3.4 miles inc the 4 hours of queues and delays from Eurotunnel barrier to arriving in UK 30c temperatures 1.06/ 2.7 mph
London 4.23/ 46.2mph
🛏️Mercure Hotel Honfleur
Only about 5-10 mins walk from the central harbour the staff are good, rooms we had were comfortable and clean and everything worked well. Behind the hotel is a decent sized parking area (best to arrange before arrival and it could be busy if you arrive later).
The car park also had 6 Total Energies chargers. Sounded useful but 2 are for disabled use and 2 didn’t work via app (electroverse) or via QR code. Possibly an RFID might have worked. Of the remaining 2 they promised 7.2 kW but delivered power at 3.5 kW. After plugging in 9 times on failed charges or slow units I added about 17 kWh then gave up as on the road charging was cheaper anyhow.
The Drive
This was a real mix, a slow local road to the supermarket, fairly quick motorway to Calais at an average of 63 mph (102 kmh).
We did try to stop to charge at Ionity Baie de Sommes but all were busy with other EV’s waiting. Rather than stop we decided to continue to Coquelles nr Calais. While not for the nervous or inexperienced (Hippo was predicting 0% battery on arrival!) I just adjusted speed marginally till I was sure and arrived with 4% on arrival. In an EV with 150 miles real world range that would just be 6 miles remaining.. in the Hippo 4% is about 16 miles with more emergency power available after that. Not only that there was a decent restaurant at the hotel to enjoy while filling up
More Substandard service from Le Shuttle
From charger to Channel tunnel shuttle was just about the least efficient journey of the trip, 1.06 miles per kWh. This involved 2.7 mph average when moving but mostly just parked in 30C with AC to keep us cool while waiting for the terrible Le Shuttle service to run a train.
For families and people with older cars without AC it was frankly inhumane and what few information updates that were provided were completely false. The Saabs’ below drove with front doors open to try and get a little cooling effect.
According to staff on a busy day in August they had 3 trains in service and they had just sent all 3 to the UK so had nothing to run for 1.5 hours till they came back. 4 hours from arrival to getting off the train in UK. My understanding is the company avoids scrutiny of its substandard service by only publishing stats on train journey times without disclosing the 3 hour 25 minute wait from arrival to getting you into the train. This also constrains with what it can carry with just 2.2 cars per year carried in 2022 compared to 3.448 million in 1998. The 2026 figures are probably even worse. We had almost the same experience on our last trip in January at low season.
⚡🪫Charging on this leg
Ionity charger nr Coquelles+83%
30 mins
🪫4-87%
100kWh. av speed 192kW
First charged stopped unexpectedly just as lunch arrived so I just plugged back in on the same charger for the charge below
Ionity charger nr Coquelles+13%
28 mins
🪫87-97%
13kWh. av speed 27kW
These 2 combined charges were a last chance for the hippo to gulp down cheap French electricity while
enjoying lunch with 71% left on arrival in London.
Summing up. How did the iX3 perform?
Ok so is this a great EV for a grand tour of Europe? Well yes! Is it a GT car? No but that’s mainly because it’s an SUV and more focussed on technology than out and out luxury. With 476 lb-ft of torque and 463 horsepower it will certainly get you up and down mountain passes in the Alps with ease. The range is so ridiculously large that with a little homework you can skip expensive charging networks or even whole countries. With 97% charge at Calais you find within your reach are Frankfurt, Nantes or Newcastle. Frankly that’s way beyond what you need but it provides extraordinary choice of where you choose to charge. When you do need to gulp down more energy the BMW iX3 50 obliges. If you get the smaller battery 40 version you get the same charge times but less power delivered… like a drink that’s been diluted. At that price point of the iX3 40 a (more spacious) 5 seat Mercedes GLB or a Volvo EX60 10 might prove more compelling.
Cabin space is generous but luggage space less so, so a sliding rear bench would really help owners select between luggage and passenger space. Total luggage space with luggage cover in place is less than a Tesla Model 3
Is it efficient? Well if you compare with my Italy trips in a 2019 Tesla Model 3 in 2022 and 2022 the much heavier and more Hippo shaped iX3 managed a very close efficiency of 3.6 miles per kWh. It probably is broadly similar to the current Model Y on efficiency despite extra weight. It won’t match the Highland Model 3 on efficiency but it’s big battery that delivers 400 miles on a full battery at 3.6 miles per kWh.
Previous Tesla Model 3 stats
| London to Italy trips | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2025 | 2023 | 2022 |
| Distance (miles) | 2,770 | 2,789 | 2,632 |
| Electricity consumed | 626.8 | 742 kWh | 694 kWh |
| Efficiency Wh/mile | 226 | 266 | 264 |
| Miles per kW/h | 4.41 | 3.75 | 3.78 |
| CO2 in g/kWh | 82.73 (132g/kWh) | 148.4 (200g/kWh) | 138.8 (200g/kWh) |
2019 Tesla Model 3 Performance minus in 2022 and 2023 and more efficient Highland long range dual motor in 2025
Other new generation electric SUV’s
- The iX3 50 has a powerful USP in terms of charging and range as well as handling. Refinement and ride are a bit behind the pack though
- Mercedes GLC is a bit more efficient at very high speed (80mph/130kmh or more) but like all the Mercedes models (CLA, GLA, GLB,GLC) has either no ability or a very limited ability to charge on 400v chargers like Tesla Superchargers via a 100kW adapter). In the UK about half of chargers are 400v.
- It’s worth remembering that if Mercedes offered the GLB in 5 seat form in UK (rather than the very niche 7 seat only) if would give Mercedes a second strong competitor. It has more boot and frunk space than any competitor in the segment apart from Model Y and delivers decent efficiency despite the tall shape.
- The Volvo EX60 was last of these cars to launch and in some ways is the best. It may not be as good round corners as the BMW or even the Mercedes GLC but it’s quieter and has a smoother ride than either German car. In P10 form it also has less range than the iX3 50 but counters by knocking 4 minutes off the BMW 10-80% charge time. As a refined road tripper it should be high on the shortlist too.
