Our Long-Term BMW i5 M60 Crushed Its EPA Range Estimate

We saw a 10% increase over the EPA's estimate in our range test

written by Steven Ewing^{Director, Editorial Content
Steven Ewing has worked in the automotive industry since 2003. In that time, he's written thousands of car-related articles and tested just as many vehicles. Steven is Edmunds' director of Editorial Content and has previously been on staff at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog, Motor1.com and CNET Roadshow. Steven has also contributed to Car and Driver, Top Gear, and dozens of other automotive publications. In his spare time, Steven loves to play the drums, cook and whip around Los Angeles in his 1999 Mazda MX-5 Miata.}
4/22/2024
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We put our long-term 2024 BMW i5 M60 xDrive through the Edmunds EV Range Test.
Equipped with 21-inch wheels, our test car's EPA-estimated range is 240 miles per charge.
We handily exceeded that estimate, with our test showing 264 miles of range in real-world conditions.

Now that we're settling into long-term life with our 2024 BMW i5 M60 xDrive, we thought it time to put our Edmunds Top Rated winner through our vaunted real-world range test. Peep our leaderboard and you'll see that BMWs tend to do well when subjected to our testing. But the i5 M60 did exceptionally well, beating its EPA estimate by 10%.

On the Edmunds EV Range Test, we recorded 264 miles of real-world range in our all-wheel-drive BMW i5 M60. According to the EPA, an i5 M60 xDrive fitted with 21-inch wheels like our long-termer should get 240 miles. In fact, our 264-mile result with the i5 M60 with 21-inch wheels is better than the EPA ratings for models equipped with 20- and 19-inch wheels, which have estimates of 248 and 256 miles, respectively.

Energy consumption is another area where our i5 exceeded expectations. The EPA says an i5 M60 xDrive like ours should use 40 kWh per 100 miles, but our data recorded 35 kWh per 100 miles. That's a solid improvement as lower figures are better here.

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Am I Ready for an EV?

EV ownership works best if you can charge (240V) at home or at work ^{This typically means a 240V home installation, but you could also have a similar setup at your office or other places your car is already parked for several hours each day. Don't expect a regular household outlet (120V) to suffice unless you've got a plug-in hybrid, in which case overnight charging at home is feasible.}
If you can’t charge at home, charging at a charging station could take at least 10x longer than at a gas station ^{With public charging infrastructure still in its infancy, the user experience can be maddeningly inconsistent. Tesla owners tend to rave about the reliability and speed of the company's proprietary Supercharger stations, but rival DC fast options have thus far been plagued by technical issues and overcrowding. It's an evolving landscape and our best advice is to do your research on the available options for the EV you want to buy.}
Adding a 240V home charging system could cost up to $1,600 or more ^{If your existing electrical service can handle the additional demands of EV charging, you may be able to add Level 2 charging at home for less than a grand, including installation. But your costs will multiply if you need to upgrade your electrical panel or add a dedicated circuit.}

How we range test

The methodology around the Edmunds EV Range Test is sacrosanct here at headquarters. It's how we can ensure — as much as possible, anyway — that all EVs get a fair shake in what are genuine real-world conditions. Be sure to visit our landing page to read all the details and see the results of more than 75 EVs that we've tested over the years.

Our testing targets an average speed of 40 mph, with a mix of 60% city and 40% highway driving. We test EVs in their most efficient drive modes — as long as this doesn't result in maddeningly slow acceleration — and we set the regenerative braking to its maximum strength. We also stay within 5 mph of the posted speed limit whenever possible, and cars are returned to Edmunds HQ with 10 miles of range or fewer, for safety reasons. No one wants to get stranded.

Edmunds says

Here's hoping we continue to see these impressive real-world range results throughout our year of testing the BMW i5 M60.

by Steven Ewing

Steven Ewing has worked in the automotive industry since 2003. In that time, he's written thousands of car-related articles and tested just as many vehicles. Steven is Edmunds' director of Editorial Content and has previously been on staff at Winding Road magazine, Autoblog, Motor1.com and CNET Roadshow. Steven has also contributed to Car and Driver, Top Gear, and dozens of other automotive publications. In his spare time, Steven loves to play the drums, cook and whip around Los Angeles in his 1999 Mazda MX-5 Miata.