BMW M EV: Expect fireworks

The first high-performance EV from BMW M division will be unleashed this decade and it must be a success if the brand is to be taken seriously in the electric era.

When the likes of Porsche, Rimac, Pininfarina and Koenigsegg are pumping out mind-melting EV meta cars with scandalous power outputs – and the Tesla Roadster 2.0 primed to blow everything out of the water – BMW M has a big job ahead.

Although the German sports car brand won’t say when its first EV will arrive or how much power it will generate, the company's head of product management – the bloke who helps shape the BMW M portfolio – says it the adoption of emerging EV tech will provide the tools required for its fastest ever vehicles.

"In the 2020s we will have an electrified portfolio of BMW M vehicles. We do believe in that timeframe we will have the technologies on hand in order to deliver similar if not even better performance than we have today with a regular combustion engine," said Daniel Schmidt, the head of product management at BMW M.

For reference, the fastest BMW M vehicle to date is the BMW M5 Competition, its 460kW/750Nm twin-turbo V8 providing the AWD machine with a claimed 3.3-second sprint from 0-100km/h.

"Technology will improve, weight will come down and even more so the efficiency and energy density of the high-voltage [battery] cells," explained Schmidt.

"But also in terms of powertrain and powertrain dynamics and electric motors to offer the performance which we need, and we will leverage this as much as possible," he said.

BMW's hot shop is keen to delve into the world of EVs but says that several criteria must be met – not just straight-line speed.

"We have certain internal requirement goals which we do see as a test, which has a certain limit we have to overcome with all our cars on the M side, in order to have a certain race track capability."

The big challenge for the brand will be finding a balance between power and stamina but Schmidt says it will deliver on its promise of making every BMW M car – EVs included – bona-fide track weapons that will have enough range to crank out more than five laps at Phillip Island.

"At the moment this is not yet possible with the technology which is on the market right now," he said.

"We are observing very, very intensely what is happening on the market and what technologies are available."

But Schmidt says BMW and the M skunkworks have a secret weapon to achieve its lofty goals.

BMW opened a technology centre in Munich last year, jam-packed with scientists whose goal is to not only improve current battery technology but create breakthroughs in the field.

The BMW Battery Cell Competence Centre's aim is to double the battery density available today, with a type of solid-state battery achieved via ionic conduction under the microscope.

"We just opened a technology centre for battery cells in Munich, full of scientists, and the company is investing heavily," said Schmidt.

"So in this respect we do have experience, and I'm confident we will come up with something that is on a level that we can easily say 'this is M'."

It's not clear what sort of electric vehicle BMW M will deploy first, but BMW development boss Klaus Frohlich has previously said he wants a 450kW successor for the iconic 1978 BMW M1 supercar on sale by early this decade.

An all-electric replacement for the soon-to-be-axed BMW i8 -- only BMW's second mid-engined model after the M1 -- is reportedly in the works. The M1 was reprised in concept form with the M1 Homage in 2008.

More recently, in 2019, the BMW Vision M NEXT concept (pictured) was revealed with a 441kW four-cylinder turbo-petrol plug-in hybrid powertrain that was claimed to propel the supercar to 100km/h in 3sec.

The gullwinged super-coupe is widely expected to preview BMW's first dedicated M performance car in more than 40 years, but whether it emerges as a pure EV remains to be seen.

However, Schmidt may be forced to go with the head not the heart, and a high-performance SUV with its wider market appeal may trump a supercar as BMW M's first full EV.

Either way, the first battery-powered M-car will be worth waiting for, given the upcoming BMW i4 coupe is itself expected to deliver 390kW and a 600km range.

Schmidt also told carsales that a hard-core BMW M EV pick-up had future potential, but is not in the product plan at present.

Whatever eventuates, expect fireworks.