One of the most enduring qualities of an electric car is its quietness – and its this aspect that makes as EV such an enjoyable drive.

I’ve just tested BMW’s iX3 SUV, which looks much like any of the family of X3 petrol and diesel SUV’s. The mid-sized X3 SUV  BMW’s best-selling model  – the entry 2.0-litre turbo petrol auto rear drive kicks the range off at $73,900. The pure electric iX3 $114,900 which includes a complimentary five-year Chargefox network membership.

The electric motor drives the rear wheels via a single speed automatic transmission – with 210kW of power, 400Nm of torque it can power to 100km/hour in 6.8 seconds.

Range is quoted at 460 kilometres on the official WLTP test cycle however the most I could achieve with a full charge in the real world was 338k’s. With a conventional domestic power point 0-100 percent charging takes a not inconsiderable 44 hours, with three-phase wall box 7.5 hours.

The drive experience makes up for the tedious charging – but select the gearshift to the B position and you automatically feed power back into the battery via brake energy regeneration. The BMW iX3 offers much but for me the expense, and lack of range still points me to a petrol 3.0-litre M40i X3 for much the same money.

I’m David Berthon.

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