PressClub Global · Article.
Ultimate driving dynamics: BMW M GmbH begins concept testing for all-electric high-performance models.
17.08.2022 Press Release
First test drives with a prototype for innovative drive and chassis control systems commence. Four electric motors and an integrated driving dynamics control system enable an extremely emotional driving experience in future high-performance sports cars.
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Martin Schleypen
BMW Group
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Martin Schleypen
BMW Group
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Munich. BMW M GmbH is opening the next chapter in its
transformation towards electric mobility. With the first test drives
of a so-called concept test vehicle for innovative drive and chassis
control systems, a multidisciplinary team of developers is now putting
to test the hardware and software solutions designed for future fully
electric high-performance cars. The concept testing focuses on a
four-wheel drive system comprising four electric motors and an
integrated driving dynamics control system, which together provide an
unprecedented level of performance and experience.
With the completely new drive concept, BMW M GmbH is
underscoring its development expertise and, therefore, also its
ability to transfer the essence of the letter M into the world of
locally emission-free mobility. The purely electric drive system is
combined with innovative control systems to redefine the combination
of dynamics, agility and precision that is characteristic of BMW M
automobiles in a high-performance sports car.
50 years of BMW M GmbH: The future begins in the anniversary
year.
Exactly 50 years after its foundation, BMW M GmbH
is in the midst of a transformation process towards electric mobility,
which not only preserves the unmistakable performance characteristics
of its models, but at the same time enriches them with new facets. The
anniversary year has already seen the market launch of the
all-electric BMW i4 M50 performance car (combined power consumption:
22.5 – 18.0 kWh/100 km according to WLTP; CO2 emissions: 0 g/km; data
according to NEDC: –) and the BMW iX M60 (combined power consumption:
24.5 – 21.9 kWh/100 km according to WLTP; CO2 emissions: 0 g/km; data
according to NEDC: –). And the BMW i7 M70, the first BMW M automobile
based on an all-electric luxury sedan, is to follow as early as next year.
“On our anniversary, we are not only looking back, but above all
also looking forward,” says Franciscus van Meel, Chairman of the Board
of Management of BMW M GmbH. “Before the end of the year, production
of the BMW XM, our first high-performance car featuring a V8 M hybrid
drive, will commence. Together with our fans all over the world, we
are also looking forward to our entry into the LMDh category of the
North American IMSA endurance racing series, in which we will also be
competing with an eight-cylinder hybrid turbo engine in Daytona and at
other events in 2023, as well as in the WEC racing series at Le Mans a
year later.”
Specific drive and suspension technology in the guise of a BMW
i4 M50.
In order to now bring the drive and chassis technology designed
for future, purely electric high-performance cars onto the road for
test and tuning drives, the engineers at BMW M GmbH have developed a
test vehicle that carries the appropriate genes – both in terms of
typical M dynamics and in the field of electric mobility. Based on the
BMW i4 M50, a purely electrically powered coupe has been created with
a modified body in typical BMW M GmbH style, the wide wheel arches of
which permit the integration of specifically manufactured
high-performance front and rear axle designs.
The front end of the vehicle features an adapted body strut
concept taken from the BMW M3/ M4 series for particularly high
torsional rigidity in extremely dynamic driving situations. The
arrangement of the radiator units is also based on the configuration
developed for the current high-performance sports cars.
Extremely precise, extremely variable: M xDrive four-wheel
drive system with four electric motors.
The core of the revolutionary high-performance drive system now
making its debut on the road in the test vehicle is an electric M
xDrive four-wheel drive system with four electric motors. The fact
that all four wheels are each driven by an electric motor opens up
completely new possibilities for infinitely variable, extremely
precise and at the same time very fast distribution of drive torque.
Within milliseconds, the power and torque of the spontaneously
reacting electric motors can be dosed so precisely that the load
demand signalled via the accelerator pedal can be realised at a level
of dynamics that is unattainable using conventional drive systems.
This means that the driver is able to experience entirely new
performance characteristics even under extremely demanding conditions
such as in highly dynamic situations or adverse road conditions.
“Electrification opens up completely new degrees of freedom for us to
create M-typical dynamics,” says Dirk Häcker, Head of Development at
BMW M GmbH. “And we can already see that we can exploit this potential
to the maximum, so that our high-performance sports cars will continue
to offer the M-typical and incomparable combination of dynamics,
agility and precision in the locally emission-free future.”
Highly integrated control unit for vehicle dynamics and drive control.
The precision during the transfer of drive torque in particular
benefits significantly from the electric M xDrive four-wheel drive
system. The four motors are connected to a central, highly integrated
control unit that permanently monitors the driving condition and the
driver's wishes. The ideal power transmission to the road is
calculated within milliseconds from the values for the accelerator
pedal position, steering angle, longitudinal and lateral acceleration,
wheel speeds and other parameters. The signals for this are
transmitted just as quickly and directly via a multi-plate clutch and
differentials to the four motors, which are able to implement them
immediately and precisely.
This form of vehicle dynamics and drive control was brought to
practical maturity in intensive development and test phases, initially
on virtual models and then on test benches. For completely realistic
application of the hardware and software developed for this purpose,
the concept test vehicle is now being put on the road. The interior of
the four-door coupe is equipped with extensive measuring technology
that can be used to analyse in detail every completed driving
situation. In this way, the theoretical results for the perfect
distribution of drive torque can be compared in the rolling test
laboratory with reality on the road and taken into account for further programming.
This detailed work is crucial to ensure that future
high-performance models will also be characterised by exactly what has
rendered BMW M automobiles unmistakable for the last 50 years: a
linear build-up of drive power and lateral dynamics that permits
controllable handling right up to the limits. The fact that this limit
range is shifted even further by the pioneering drive principle was
already apparent during the first test kilometres of the concept test
vehicle on closed-off roads. Thanks to the particularly sensitive
dosage of drive torque and conversion without perceptible latency,
significantly higher cornering speeds can be achieved, even on
rain-soaked or snow-covered roads, for example. In this case, the
vehicle steers effortlessly and without a tendency to understeer, as
the drive torque for the outside rear wheel has already been increased
parallel to the steering angle.
The high-performance character of the new drive system is also
evident in the recuperation of braking energy. Right up to the limits
of driving dynamics, the four motors can assume the function of a
generator when braking before a bend, for example, and feed
electricity back into the high-voltage battery.