BMW Electric Roadster: Waiting For Day X

Table of contents:

BMW Electric Roadster: Waiting For Day X
BMW Electric Roadster: Waiting For Day X

Video: BMW Electric Roadster: Waiting For Day X

Video: BMW Electric Roadster: Waiting For Day X
Video: Нафига я тестирую i8 в D3? Поездка в Минск как на дачу 2024, March
Anonim

There is already an electric scooter from BMW, but there is no electric motorcycle. The Munich-based company is currently working hard on an electric roadster.

But a quick market launch of such a model is not to be expected. It is forbidden to draw conclusions from the prototype about the appearance of a later production motorcycle after the first glance at the test vehicle: it is a mixture of the blue tubular space frame and the chassis of a BMW R 1200 R. The prototype is still in motion with a lithium-ion battery from a hybrid BMW 5 series, an electric motor that cannot be seen in detail and the body of a BMW S 1000 R.

spoods.de

Although the product looks very rustic, there is a lot of engineering going into it. “In this case, our aim is to gain experience with the components and to coordinate them with one another,” says Florian Traub, Head of Advance Development E-Mobility.

Electric motor with 136 hp

For the engine, the decision was made to use a power level that guarantees superior performance but can also be operated economically: "The engine has an output of 100 kW," says Traub. Translated into common combustion performance data that would be 136 hp. A later comparison drive between a standard BMW S 1000 R with 165 hp and the test vehicle makes it more than clear that the 100 electric kilowatts are clearly superior to the 20 percent higher performance of the piston engine.

The E-Roadster, which only rattles slightly with the drive chain but is otherwise almost whisper-quiet, picks up speed much faster from a standing start. The reason for this is well known: electric motors have full torque as soon as they are started, while the combustion engine has to rev up first. Until the shift to third gear - the opponents are at around 150 km / h - the electric vehicle is in the lead, then the production model takes over.

Integrated speed control

"However, we also installed a speed limit in the test model because extremely high speed and range do not correlate with one another," explains Traub. It doesn't matter: the efficiency of an electric drive is obvious. And the driver feels that driving an electrically powered motorcycle is emotional, but different. The white-blue test vehicle, which weighs around 280 kilograms, shows a few abnormalities: Two water coolers and various cooling water hoses can be seen on it.

“We don't need any cooling whatsoever while driving - but when charging,” explains Traub. A battery with a usable capacity of 21 kWh is aimed for for use in series production. Charging should be done with an output of 40 to 50 kW, so that the driver can have 80 percent of the battery capacity after half an hour of charging.

Up to 180 kilometers range

"And this amount of electricity is enough for our vehicle in practical use for 180 kilometers," says Traub. A recuperation system is integrated. However, because the battery cells quickly reach the dangerous temperature range of over 40 ° Celsius during rapid charging and, unlike in cars, there is no air conditioning available on motorcycles that can provide cooling, water cooling is required.

BMW has opted for the CCS standard for the power supply, as is common with fast chargers in Europe and the USA. In this way, electricity can be drawn for a journey of six kilometers per minute of charging. "This puts us in an area that - at least in theory - enables day trips of around 400 kilometers with a single reload," says the developer. Theoretically, because the driver of a BMW E-Roadster cannot assume that he will find a suitable charging facility at his chosen intermediate destination, neither today nor tomorrow.

Charging infrastructure as a problem

In Germany, for example, fast charging stations have so far been almost exclusively on the autobahns and not where motorcyclists like to go, as is known not only at BMW. That won't change anytime soon - and that's why BMW is still taking some time to develop an electric motorcycle in series. "We do not believe that the charging infrastructure that is important for motorcyclists in areas that are attractive for bikers will change significantly within the next two or three years," says development boss Christof Lischka. In addition, a single charging station - for example located on an attractive alpine pass - does not solve the problem if a dozen or more motorcyclists want to charge their batteries there.

Image
Image

At BMW, however, they by no means limit themselves to waiting. "We use the time to configure the vehicle in detail and to have all functions one hundred percent under control by then," says the top developer at BMW. Of course, the experience with the C Evolution electric scooter also flows into the development of the E-Roadster. It has been built in small series since 2014. So you leave the field to Zero, Energica and Harley-Davidson until day X: these three brands already have electrically powered series motorcycles in their range.

Manageable paragraph

Their performance data are very different; only the Energica, which has been significantly improved for 2020, with its 18.9 kWh battery, is expected to achieve a range of more than 200 kilometers in typical motorcycle traffic, the other two are around 150 kilometers.

The demand, not only in Germany, is of course still very modest: For Zero, who has been active in Germany for ten years, the Motorcycle Industry Association has 176 new registrations this year by the end of October (2018: 151), Energica figures are not tangible and the Harley-Davidson Livewire will not start until these weeks anyway. (SP-X)

Recommended: