Can we make it? BMW iX EV roadtrip from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe

Ollie from Cartelligent takes a BMW iX from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe to see whether he can make it without charging. Join us for iX features, specs, competitors and more!
All prices quoted are as advertised by their respective manufacturers for July 2024
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[@arthurgutnik146]

I personally have a 2024 iX and there are a couple things I could add as input. You were using Google Maps which does not communicate with the vehicle. By not using the onboard navigation you are missing essential data and it works very well. That navigation system can tell you specifically (and you can customize in the settings on percentage arrival) when you need to charge, how much to charge to and how long it can take. You may have had the capability to go all the way back without even charging if the destination was put into the system. I have tested this several times driving to Seattle starting a trip at lower states of charge with pre-conditioning and I still get this car to go further than anticipated. This vehicle "claims" 310mi range but many owners have pushed it to 330-360 miles. BMW was pessimistic about the range and has really surprised owners the capability of the SUV/SAV. When you charged to 80% the first time all those hash marks to the right on the scale indicated the charger from Electrify America was limiting its delivery - aka there is an issue with the charger itself not the vehicle (it is nice to know who is to blame). The goal of EV roadtripping is to charge as much as needed to keep hopping along. The car to become truly self-driving requires the drivers assistant pro package and only works in full swing when the BMW ID is linked to the vehicle and the car cannot be in "fleet" status. You were experiencing just basic assisted driving hence why the orange lights kept flashing on the steering wheel requiring capacitive touch. But I will tell you the Asst Pro driving on this car is a chef's kiss. Can drive for hours without touching the wheel with no weird ghost breaking. Many can talk about the Lyriq. I was offered an insane lease back in December and did not go through with it because GM gave literally ZERO training and education to the technicians on how to fix the vehicle. So you could bring it in for a specific issue and they would have to keep the car for weeks learning how to fix it or having to order a part that could take weeks. The car has and still currently gets issues with its sensors. There was also a mild reresh to the car from the initial release not even a year later making changes which made many initial adopters not very happy. Is mine or the iX perfect. Nope. This car won't even exist after the model year 2028. My iX has had two door panels replaced because of problematic unresolved issues of buzzing. The back D pillar detaching inside. The parcel shelf is absolutely flimsy that required special insulation in the female end of the attachments to stop it from bouncing in its holders. You can't store the parcel shelf within the vehicle. The vehicle isn't entirely steel framed because they wanted carbon fiber integrated so the vehicle can "creak" and "crack" randomly which can be a major turn off for people's enjoyment for the cost of the vehicle. The car can be very pleasing when it is at its best, but can be very upsetting when it isn't doing its best either.

[@cartelligent]

Thank you for this! You have great real-world experience with the iX and it shows. For us, the real test is making it up the hill to Tahoe with miles to spare, which the iX did easily. Have you done the drive yourself?

[@hilarybrophy2726]

Such great info and this really highlighted how fast and easy it was to charge and the distance you can go!

[@cartelligent]

Thanks Hilary! What car should we do next?

[@matthewvalazza6968]

I’ve been curious about this!

[@cartelligent]

@@matthewvalazza6968 great! Hope the video was helpful

[@LaurentMartin-p7q]

Lots of very good info , great comparison with competition. Thanks Oliver

[@zacharyable5121]

Great video! Super informative. Love the iX

[@antster7]

I guess it's what's in the inside that counts

[@cartelligent]

haha precisely! Luckily most of the time that's what you see

[@romanyukilevich6396]

Lyriq AWD is 4.6 sec 0-60 and has 306 miles range. Way better price also

[@cartelligent]

True! We are getting great prices on Lyriqs for clients and they are some of the best value EVs out there. For the comparison, I used the base trim for each car, rather than the top. The iX m60 goes 0-60 in 3.2 secs. Cheers!

[@teddysdadcory]

“Self-healing grill”… it’s so ugly even the bugs fly away from it.