The vast majority of publically accessible electric vehicles exist as sedans, hatchbacks and the lesser spotted electric bakkie. A minority within this silent space on the mobility spectrum consists of performance vehicles, which are starting to see a fair bit of growth compliments of Porsche and Audi. BMW has now become the most recent contributors to the e-performance genre with its high-performance i4 M50 concept.
A youtube video titled “Ready for the next chapter” was made public on 17 August on the BMW M channel, which showcased thrilling footage of a bright green i4 M50 speeding along city streets and winding mountain roads. As great as the footage is, the real highlight and attention grabber was the electric four door coupe clad in the firm’s signature camouflage —reserved for its prototypes— doing tyre squealing centre axis doughnuts, which were a dead giveaway to the all-wheel-drive system.
BMW M has confirmed that the camouflaged BMW is a high-performance electric M car based loosely on the i4 M50. The new electric M concept is the firm’s next attempt at bolstering its electric fleet. In past interviews, BMW CEO Frank van Meel stated that any electric M car released will still retain the beloved BMW rowdiness and spirit.
From what we’ve seen so far, this e-bimmer certainly looks the part. The exterior is based on the M50, but as a more coupe-esque variant with four doors. It adopts the front body struts design concept from the G8X M3/M4, as well as wider fenders and wheel arches – supposedly allowing for the integration of performance-orientated front and rear axles.
The athletic sibling of the i4 M50 lineage has four electric motors connected to a central control unit able to make milliseconds decisions based on a slew of inputs such as conditions, driver adjustments, pedal position, acceleration data and much more. This precise unit allows for unfathomably precision and performance in the harshest and most demanding conditions.
BMW is powering forward in its journey towards greater electric mobility, and concepts such as regenerative braking etc will also be expanded on in the high-performance i4 M50 concept. No details on the next appearance of this have been released yet, but it is already being tested in real-world applications. The i4 M50 was already a capable pseudo-electric M3 so a rowdier and more performance-focused EV from everyone’s favourite Bavarian should prove to be an interesting addition o the ever-expanding EV genre.
“We can already see that we can exploit this potential to the maximum, so that our high-performance sports cars will continue to offer the M-typical and incomparable combination of dynamics, agility and precision in the locally emission-free future.” — BMW M Head of Development Dirk Häcker
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