BMW’s first electric M car is coming in 2027—with one motor per wheel
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It's a shame they didn't mention anything about making the M cars lighter than current models. Would have thought it would be a bullet point on the first electric M car.
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My first impression when seeing that BMW was that it's the Bond car from Die Another Day after it had some of its camouflage shot up.
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This has four motors, but not in-wheel. Wouldn't be much of an M-car if it did.
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jonbob_newcastle
Ars Scholae Palatinae
In case you didn't already know, car makers often put random patterns on pre-production models and prototypes because it makes it more difficult to discern the exact shape when you look at it. Even the particular way that the wheel arches flare out is a trade secret and companies don't want a rival to copy their new model before it's released.
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I really like that car camouflage. Using the BMW and M badge colour motifs around the wheel wells is a cool look on top of the usual wavy lines.
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Yes, I know that. So in other words it's camouflage. Sort of like the Bond car.
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Can't wait to see what the production model looks like inside, but leave the camouflage!
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I'm kind of surprised we haven't seen more of these motor per wheel (even if limited to a single axle) things in EVs previously. I'm sure 2 smaller motors are more expensive than 1 big one and a differential, but seems like you could do quite a lot with per-wheel torque control. A lot of the "software defined vehicle" stuff feels a bit overhyped. Ultimately a car is still a bunch of physical parts even if there are a lot of computers inside, but with this kind of drivetrain you can define a bunch of fancy differential behaviors or advanced traction control in software. Cool to see BMW adopting this tech.
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Interesting. I assumed it was marking to allow for video-based analysis.
Tangent: Was I the only one to read "Heart of Joy" as "Heart of Gold" and look for the associated Infinite [insert replacement for Improbability] Drive nomenclature?
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jonbob_newcastle
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Some further reading.
The part about IR-absorbing coverings to flummox the autofocus on cameras was news to me.
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In-wheel motors are bad. They increase unsprung weight and don't have gearing.
Also the in-wheel motors mess up the steering geometry, contact patch and the regen + traditional brake torque vectors.
They're something you see in concept vehicles, but there's
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Globally BMW isn't backing down from EVs like some other automakers. They had a nice bump in EV sales last year. That being said, the depreciation on BMW EVs (like other Lux EVs) is eye watering. 1 year into an i5 lease and it's already worth the 3 year buy out price.
I've already heard rumblings in auto dealer forums that some automakers are contemplating offerings rebates on EV buy outs in 26-27.
I've already heard rumblings in auto dealer forums that some automakers are contemplating offerings rebates on EV buy outs in 26-27.
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I highly doubt they're unsprung, especially in an M car.
I've been waiting for more IWD (Individual Wheel Drive) vehicles. Rivian is the only one that's offered one in the US, IIRC, and most of their vehicles are tri or dual motor. Audi has said they're not going to do more than tri motor. I think Rivian has demonstrated the advantages of a true IWD system, and given the price, their downsides.
An affordable IWD is as high on my wants list as it is unobtainable right now.
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A friend told me in passing that that BMW is using motors with brushes... Is this true?
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Some models do. It means you're not under the thumb of China for rare earth magnets. Nissan is doing it too. I've seen the Nissan tear down. It's rated for 350K miles. And can be swapped without removing the motor.
Here's the teardown vid on the Nissan that gets into it.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFmp9ODkCA8
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And that is quite the compliment to Hyundai. The student is becoming the master after poaching some BMW talent, if I recall?
I would imagine that IWD/one motor per wheel doesn't make sense from a cost/benefit ratio until you're at the limits of traction... frequently. Do they make regenerative braking more effective, efficient, and/or responsive? Might be all three.
They're probably doing something with the weight balance as well. This thing sounds like it is going to be scary fast around a track.
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Gearing is (relatively) easy with planetary gearing. I agree with in-wheel motors being bad for racy cars; but imagine a 4x4 Jeep with in-wheel motors. Nobody is going to complain about the handling compromises, but you immediately lose the differentials and solid axles hanging down low. With just a little lift, you could have 24" of ground clearance without having tires and wheel the size of a schoolbus, and you could have all the suspension compliance in the world. The torque would be insane, and it could enable something like servo control, where the accelerator would set your speed as opposed to your torque - if you pushed slightly to the 1 mph level, the vehicle would use as much or as little torque as necessary to go 1 mph. "Low Range" might mean "Full Accelerator travel only goes from 0-15 mph" to maximize your control in difficult situations.
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Hyundai paoched from the M division to jumpstart their N division. Now that I think about N, does come after M, wonder if that was intentional despite what Hyundai claims...
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It’s a little bit difficult to get a good understanding of the size of the drive unit without the context of the surrounding car but it looks really massive (and heavy?). I get that the image is an exploded view so it appears bigger but looks like its not too far from the size of a regular IC car engine?
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It sounds a bit like something out of a Douglas Adam’s novel. Hopefully that doesn’t mean that the eventual self driving capabilities has qualities of an infinite improbability drive?
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From the article:
“…adding some engagement to a performance EV by replicating a transmission, especially if you implement it in a way that even lets you bounce off a “rev limiter” for more fidelity. For the people who think that sounds like no fun, take heart in the fact that as always, you can just choose not to turn that function on.“
It’s not so much that it doesn’t sound fun, because it may very well be in an old school kind of way. It’s more that it feels like installing an artificial whip in a car to get the same kind of engagement as driving a horse carriage. Like, why not focus on making the EV itself more engaging to drive rather than adding artificial limiters? In my opinion, it’s the wrong type of messaging for a performance EV, implying that the only really fun driving experience is the ICE experience.
“…adding some engagement to a performance EV by replicating a transmission, especially if you implement it in a way that even lets you bounce off a “rev limiter” for more fidelity. For the people who think that sounds like no fun, take heart in the fact that as always, you can just choose not to turn that function on.“
It’s not so much that it doesn’t sound fun, because it may very well be in an old school kind of way. It’s more that it feels like installing an artificial whip in a car to get the same kind of engagement as driving a horse carriage. Like, why not focus on making the EV itself more engaging to drive rather than adding artificial limiters? In my opinion, it’s the wrong type of messaging for a performance EV, implying that the only really fun driving experience is the ICE experience.
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No doubt two of those computers will be locked behind a subscription model and of course all functionality will be behind a single screen or capacitive touch.
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The main obstacles to adoption remain high buying prices, not having a private garage where you can charge everyday and/or not being allowed to arrive to your destination an hour late because you had to stop and recharge. The target population for M cars has a higher than average probability of having those issues already sorted.
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Thoughtful comment, here are some notes from the trenches:
- tested on Nurbungring, one can cover 98% of the performance gap between 2 motors (4WD) and full 4 motors by using 3 motors, with torque vectoring on the rear axle only in all situations except lateral-grip limited (using Michelin Cup2R-grade tires, if normal tires - no difference from 4 motors)
- an electric motor's "active part" that produces torque represents some 50% of the overall package, so a "double everything" motor is only 50% bigger. There are good packaging efficiencies from bigger motors, not to mention cost.
- more motors = less efficiency in normal running due to added lossess and mass. Most times actually 1WD is enough, cruising on the highway 20kW are plenty and any motor can do that
If I was in charge of such a program based on the data, the best reason to decide for a 4 instead of 3 motors is marketing, which is important, and with the right tires one can get that "ultimate" performance. But will the car be too heavy or expensive due to this choice? Let's see
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We've kinda been doing this for at least 126 years by now. It's fine.
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That's why you center the wheels (or the openings in the pattern for air, where needed). And if worse comes to worst, you focus on something near the car and shoot some shots at lower speed and higher aperture to cover the difference. It also pays to practice up on panning on a monopod, for that matter.
If all else fails, go full manual.
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