Meet ‘Lucy,’ BMW’s EV improvement automobile with over 7,000 pound-feet of torque – Roadshow

The power with which this automobile launches is completely insane.

BMW

The automobile you see right here began life as a BMW M550i xDrive. What it is develop into, nonetheless, is an absolute monster.

“We name it Lucy,” the prototype’s undertaking supervisor, Matthias Stangl, tells me. “Once you say ‘Lucy’ all people’s desirous about ‘Lucifer’, and also you see this wonderful black automobile down there. However if you happen to consider the Latin origin of ‘Lucifer’, it is the one which brings the sunshine.”

Because it seems, that nomenclature duality could not be extra applicable. This 5 Sequence is fitted with three electrical motors — one on the entrance axle, two on the rear — and it is used as a take a look at mattress for fine-tuning the dynamics of BMW’s future electrical powertrains. The engineers can alter the facility output and torque vectoring traits, so Lucy can be utilized to develop a variety of electrified merchandise. “You can also make it really feel like an enormous 7 Sequence, or you may make it really feel like an SUV,” Stangl says.

However you can even flip up the wick and make it really feel like a complete goddamn rocket. That is as a result of, with every thing set to max-power mode, this electrified 5 Sequence produces 720 horsepower and — look ahead to it — 7,375 pound-feet of torque. I initially thought Stangl misspoke, so I picked my jaw up off the ground and requested a second engineer for affirmation. “Round 10,000 Newton-meters on the axles,” he confirmed. Open my iPhone’s calculator app, do a fast conversion. Yep, 7,375 pound-feet of immediate, electrical thrust. Ho. Ly. Shit.

This insane thrust permits the 5,300-pound prototype to speed up to 60 miles per hour in “significantly beneath three seconds,” in accordance with BMW. One of many take a look at engineers tells me even that may be a extremely conservative estimate.

It definitely feels conservative, not less than whereas driving shotgun for a few fast laps round one among BMW’s take a look at services close to Munich, Germany. The power with which this automobile launches is completely insane. You’ll be able to really feel the pores and skin in your face being pulled again as your physique is sucked into the 5 Sequence’ seat. It form of appears like Tesla’s Ludicrous Mode, but in some way extra brutal.

The three motors draw their energy from a 45-kilowatt-hour battery pack. If that does not sound very large, nicely, that is as a result of it is not, and Stangl says that utilizing this smaller battery is an intentional alternative.

“You want a automobile that reacts the identical manner independently of the state of cost,” Stangl says. “As you may know, a Tesla Mannequin S, for instance, is degrading very a lot if you happen to go on a quick drive, in order that’s not excellent for operate improvement, as a result of the circumstances of the automobile change on a regular basis. The main focus was that this automobile behaves the identical, stays on the identical performing stage over each state of cost.”

Lucy is about 1,000 kilos heavier than a regular M550i, however feels simply as agile whereas cornering.

BMW

Plus, the Energy BEV’s battery is able to fast charging, so the pack may be replenished in a brilliant quick period of time. “What we usually do [is] now we have a time interval with a really secure efficiency on no matter stage, after which we are able to do fast charging — 200 kilowatts — and the we’re going once more. The purpose is to waste as little time as doable.”

After simply six sizzling laps across the improvement observe, the battery is nearly out of juice. However solely a few minutes later, it is topped up and able to go. Apart from, the engineers often aren’t driving Lucy in its most outrageous stage of output, flooring all of it ham-fisted across the Bavarian proving grounds. Quite a lot of the event is spent tuning the electrical torque vectoring between the 2 motors on the rear axles, with a view to hone the general dealing with.

As an engineer whips me by way of a few chicanes, the automobile behaves like I might anticipate a 5 Sequence to. Regardless of the added heft of the electrical motors, the automobile appears nimble by way of the collection of tight cones, and on a second run with the traction management decreased, fortunately kicks its rump out to permit for a little bit of intentional, tail-happy oversteer.

With a view to deal with the power of those electrical motors, this 5 Sequence prototype makes use of the entrance axle setup from the up to date, G12-generation 7 Sequence sedan. On the rear, you may discover extra 7 Sequence structure, although Stangl says this can be a “prototype axle.” The Energy BEV improvement automobile rides on metal springs and makes use of typical brakes. 

Look, ma! No tailpipes!

BMW

The remainder of the automobile carries over unchanged, too — the battery, three motors and different obligatory upgrades all match into the prevailing 5 Sequence structure. “The inside is totally G30 5 Sequence,” Stangl says. “We spent plenty of effort to maintain it that manner. It ought to look that manner. We did not need to do something freaky-fancy in that automobile.”

In actual fact, Stangl thinks of this improvement prototype as a “complete automobile idea.” The Energy BEV itself won’t preview any particular upcoming product, however Stangl says “it is necessary to combine all of the methods in a manner into the automobile that the client has the identical ergonomics, the identical house within the inside and the identical house within the trunk.”

“All the pieces that we’re doing in improvement of this automobile will in some way lead right into a collection product,” Stangl says. “However this automobile is one among a form.”

This automobile is not slated for manufacturing, however the work its engineers full will assist create higher future EVs.

BMW

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