The Bavarian brand has published a video showing a high-performance BMW i4 electric car. Among the many features of the novelty, four powerful electric motors stand out.
The BMW M sports division is committed to electrification, as is the rest of the automotive industry as a whole. The Bavarian brand’s management plan for its models includes the creation of hybrids and clean electric vehicles, and today BMW wants to highlight the latter in particular. BMW M has announced that it has begun testing its new drive control systems and chassis in a modified i4, which includes a four-engine power plant.
Each engine drives a separate wheel, which gives the new i4 all-wheel drive and precise control over the transmission of torque to each wheel.
According to the automaker, the four-engine power plant M xDrive will allow the driver to experience “completely new dynamic characteristics.” A short teaser video from BMW shows how the test car performs a sharp turn, which probably shows some capabilities of the car.
The drive and chassis control systems calculate the required power using input data such as the position of the accelerator pedal, steering angle, longitudinal and transverse acceleration, wheel rotation speed, and other parameters. This ensures that the required amount of torque reaches each wheel for optimal performance. BMW M discovered one of the advantages of the new powertrain during the first few kilometers of road testing, discovering that the car can develop significantly higher speeds on turns.
BMW started developing a powerful engine almost before it moved to the test benches. Now the company is ready for real testing of hardware and software. The goal is to ensure that these models have the characteristics that have made the BMW M so iconic over the past 50 years — “linear power build-up of drive and transverse dynamics that provide controlled right up to the limit.”
Not so long ago, our publication wrote that BMW is developing a new hydrogen version of the BMW X5 together with TOYOTA. The German company was one of the first to set a course for the production of eco-friendly cars, gradually abandoning variations with internal combustion engines that seriously pollute the atmosphere. However, BMW’s plans for the release of electric cars alone do not end there.