FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: BMW plugs in power on M cars

Plug-in hybridisation will be providing a huge 150kW power boost for BMW’s M sports models as soon as 2021.

The power push initiative exploits a massive BMW thrust into electrification. The company has announced its intention to have 25 electrified vehicles in the market by 2025, 12 of which will be battery electric.

Speaking to Australian media at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the company’s board member for development, Dr Klaus Frohlich, said power boosts up to 150kW provided by plug-in hybrid technology were being planned for future M models.

But Dr Frohlich made it clear electrification would assist rather than supplant internal combustion engines in M cars “for a very long time”.

“We will have M cars very, very long and they will be very, very exciting,” Dr Frolich said.

“What we are working on would perfectly fit to an M car; to have boost and recuperation, have an e-motor which gives us boost of 100 or 150Kw extra.”

BMW isn’t alone in exploring hybridisation as a performance as well as economy boost. Direct rival Mercedes-AMG will soon introduce a new hybrid powertrain of its own.

Meanwhile, Porsche recently revealed the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid as the performance flagship of the luxury car line-up.

Dr Frohlich said supplementing the engine with electrically-generated power, rather than replacing it, was critical to retaining the sporting characteristics of BMW M cars.

“We have to be very careful to achieve it (the power boost) with as less weight as possible, so the car still performs on the Nurburgring like we are used to.

“An M car has very strict requirements, it has to survive several laps on the Nurburgring without reducing performance, without reducing brake performance and so on.”

Dr Frohlich said a hybrid-boosted M model wouldn’t appear until BMW’s fifth generation PHEV technology package is ready for production in 2021.

“For M cars to have more than 100 kilowatts and a very light-weight battery I also have to develop a new cell chemistry.

“It will take until 2021 until we have the e-motor, which is very compact and has to fit into the current package. I need a very advanced battery for that car.”

That timing rules out PHEV versions of the next generation M3 and M4 coming in 2018/19. They are understood to have only mild hybridisation via 48-volt electrical systems which are becoming common across the car industry.

Adding substantially more power to M passenger cars means more of them could join the new M5, which launches in Australia early in 2018, in having all-wheel drive rather than rear-wheel drive.

Dr Frohlich said “the market would decide” on that. However, he added the call on the next M3/M4 offering AWD as an option had not been made.

“Because the M3/M4 is an icon it has to be very pure … but I will not exclude (AWD) it yet.”

Dr Frohlich, a devout petrol-head, appeared to take a swipe at Tesla when he said car companies were mistaken to build hugely powerful electric vehicles simply because they boast a massive power number and the chance to reset acceleration times.

The flagship Tesla Model P400D makes a claimed 567kW and accelerates from zero to 100km/h in 2.7 sec, but weighs in at more than 2.0 tonnes.

“You have to be careful because you have a very good sticker, 3.2 seconds, 2.7 seconds (zero-100km/h time) or whatever, but you have a monster because you have one-tonne of battery in your car.

“In these figures you don’t see how it steers, how it behaves in cornering and things like that. So I am very careful not to put too big batteries in the cars because they spoil the driving fun.

“We will have battery electric vehicles which will be high performance cars, but they will be in the i brand. But on the M cars I am more focussing on adding … some (electrical) boost on the combustion engines of the M cars.

He also made it clear BMW’s commitment to electrification and autonomy must not come at the expense of the brand’s sporting and dynamics reputation.

“Electro-mobility has to be as emotional and give you the kick that you know from our petrol engines,” he said.

Frohlich said the retention of traditional powertrains in M cars was also driven by market demands.

“There are enough markets that will not have the (electrification) infrastructure, they are not interested. And they will not be interested because the gallon (of fuel) will be below $3 for the next 20 years anyway.”