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w/VIDEO: BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept is BMW's future

Posted by Hootan Mahallati | August 31, 2009 | In bmw green news videos

After much anticipation, wrong guesses by the media, and a few teaser pictures, BMW has revealed what it imagines the future of its performance cars as being. Have no doubt that this highly-complex, advanced concept car is a very significant statement by BMW, signaling the company’s technological direction in the upcoming years. If you are a fan of automotive technology, read carefully what is surely the most technically dense report ever posted on rightpedal. Quite frankly, your writer’s head is still spinning from trying to absorb the details of all the marvelous technology introduced in the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept.

Overview
On the surface of things, the outlandish BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept is a 356 hp, 590 lb-ft. sports car that will sprint to 60 mph in 4.8 on its way to a limited 155 mph top speed. "So far, so good," you may be saying, 'just another fast BMW. Big deal." However, there is more than meets the eye - much, much more.

Design
The first car fully designed under the direction of BMW Group Design Director Adrian van Hooydonk, the Dutchman responsible for BMW’s controversial 7-Series that changed the face of BMW - and general car - design, the Vision is precisely that: a vision of technologies to come from BMW as it reinterprets premium performance as sustainable engineering innovation. Taking styling cues from the equally spectacular M1 Homage, the Vision moves BMW’s ‘flame surfacing’ language forward toward ‘layer surfacing’, a term that should be clear as you look at the Vision’s unusual exterior and interior.

Powetrain
Things get even more interesting as the details of the Vision’s powertrain emerge. BMW is claiming BMW M3-like performance at Mini levels of fuel economy. This is achieved by pairing a mid-engine mounted, 1.5L, three-cylinder turbodiesel engine with two electric motors, all housed within a light body made of high-tech materials. The diesel engine, to be introduced in the 2011 BMW 1-Series, has an output of 163 hp and 214 lb-ft. of torque. These figures put it ahead of BMW’s own 2.0L, four-cylinder turbo diesel. (check here for our story of BMW and Mercedes-Benz’s plans to build three cylinder engines)

The Vision’s two electric motors are part of the hybrid philosophy BMW recently introduced with its hybrid X6. Both motors are situated in front of a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox, one serving the rear wheels and the other, the front wheels. The rear motor has an output of 34 hp and 214 lb-ft of torque, and it can achieve 51 hp for short bursts. The motor driving the front wheels via a one-speed transmission generates 80 hp and 162 lb-ft of torque. It too can generate momentarily higher burts of power, to the tune of 139 hp. So you see, BMW is going through extraordinarily complex lengths to create the 356 hp 590 lb-ft of torque mentioned at the beginning of this report. Combined with the low weight of its body, the Vision boasts 255 hp per ton, which is only 7 hp per ton less than that of the current 414 hp, 4.0L V8 M3!

It gets better. The impressive performance figures do NOT come at the expense of fuel economy. If fact, the Vision will return Toyota Prius-levels of frugality and cleanliness: 62.6 mpg and 99g/km in CO2 emissions. The Vision can run for 31 miles on pure electric drive, extended to 400 miles with the help of the diesel engine. The car’s batteries can be charged in 2.5 hours via 220V/16A outlets, or just 44 minutes using 380V/32A outlets. The Vision consumes 28.16 kWh of electrical energy per 100 miles, as compared to a claimed 25 kWh/100 miles for the Chevrolet Volt.  

As you would expect, the batteries are also charged while the car is in use through regenerative braking. However, as if this were not enough, the Vision adopts a technology used in spacecrafts to generate even more electric charge: a thermo-electric generator. This device is situated in the car’s exhaust system and generates electricity when heated by the exhaust gases. The electric power generated by this unit is used to power the steering, air conditioning and electrically-adjustable seats.

Body/Chassis
As you can see from the pictures, the Vision looks like a light and airy car. BMW uses a fully-aluminum chassis and suspension, combined with a light-sensitive polycarbonate roof and body shell to arrive at a vehicle weight of 3,076 lbs. Furthermore, the glass components used in the Vision are made of photochromic polycarbonate glass that darken with incident light. The car also makes liberal use of energy-efficient LED lights.

The complex aerodynamics of the car, which include aerodynamically-optimized wheels shod with low-resistance tires, achieve an astounding drag coefficient of only 0.22 Cd. As you can see in the video below, the radiator slats on the Vision are not stationary. When the powertrain does not require extra cooling, the thermostatically-controlled radiator slates close in order to reduce frontal air-resistance and therefore, increase fuel economy.

Summary
The Vision EfficientDynamics Concept signals a step change in BMW’s approach to styling and engineering. Whereas the last few years have seen the German car companies embroiled in a horsepower battle that required personal oil fields, bold steps such as the Vision from BMW signal that the Germans have also heard the cries of environmentalists and politicians and are now directing their mighty engineering know-how toward creating more efficient cars. What companies like BMW cannot afford is sacrificing driving pleasure and sporty dynamics in favor of green technologies. If the Vision is anything to go by, gearheads the world over need not worry.

[Source: BMW]

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