BMW M begins developing chassis for electric vehicles

MANILA: The next phase of BMW M GmbH's transition to electric mobility has begun. A diverse team of developers is currently testing the hardware and software solutions created for future totally electric high-performance cars — with the first drives of a so-called concept test vehicle for new drive and chassis control systems.

The four-wheel drive system under concept testing consists of four electric motors and an integrated driving dynamics control system, which combined offer a level of performance and experience that has never before been possible.

BMW M is highlighting its development competence and, consequently, its capacity to translate the spirit of the letter M into the world of locally emission-free mobility with the introduction of a completely new driving concept.

The all-electric drive system works in tandem with cutting-edge control technologies to redefine the dynamics, agility, and precision that characterize BMW M vehicles in a high-performance sports car.

Exactly 50 years after its founding, BMW is in the midst of a transition to electric mobility that not only upholds the models' distinctive performance traits but also enhances them with new facets.

The all-electric BMW i4 M50 performance car, the BMW iX M60, and the BMW i7 M70, the first BMW M vehicle based on an all-electric luxury sedan, have already been introduced to the market during the anniversary year. The BMW i7 M70 is expected to appear as early as next year.

“On our anniversary, we are not only looking back, but above all also looking forward,” said 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.”

The engineers at BMW M have created a test vehicle that carries the right genes - both in terms of typical M dynamics and in the field of electric mobility - in order to bring the drive and chassis technology designed for future, purely electric high-performance cars onto the road for test and tuning drives.

A completely electric coupe based on the BMW i4 M50 has been developed with a redesigned body in the signature BMW M GmbH style, allowing the integration of specially created high-performance front and rear axle designs.

A modified body strut idea from the BMW M3/M4 series is used on the vehicle's front end to provide exceptionally high torsional rigidity in highly dynamic driving scenarios. The radiator unit placement is also based on the design used for the most recent high-performance sports cars.

The electric M xDrive four-wheel drive system with four electric motors is the heart of the ground-breaking high-performance drive system now making its road debut in the test car. The ability to distribute drive torque in a way that is infinitely changeable, incredibly precise, and at the same time exceedingly quick is made possible by the fact that each of the four wheels is driven by an electric motor.

The load demand signaled by the accelerator pedal can be realized at a degree of dynamics that is not possible with traditional drive systems in milliseconds thanks to the exact dosing of the power and torque of the spontaneously reacting electric motors.

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,” said Dirk Häcker, Head of Development at BMW M.

“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.”

The new drive system's great performance is also demonstrated by the way braking energy is recovered. The four motors have the ability to act as generators up to the limits of driving dynamics, such as while braking before a corner and feed electricity back into the high-voltage battery.

Photos from BMW

Also read: BMW continues to mark 50 years of M at Monterey Car Week 2022