What does 2.5 tons equate to? It weighs 2 Ferrari 488pistas, 1 Ford F150 pickup, and 2.5 tons is also the weight of an innovative BMW iX.
We all know that because of the weight of the battery pack, it is also reasonable that electric vehicles are heavier than fuel vehicles of the same level. But in the past, we never seem to think about the impact of a heavier body on a car, because everyone's focus is on the range of electric vehicles, so the battery pack has become larger and heavier.
The battery of about 100 degrees has been able to meet the basic travel needs of electric vehicle users very well, but in retrospect, the overall quality of a medium-sized pure electric SUV has caught up with a fuel pickup truck model, and the most excellent production track version of the sports car in this century is only half its weight.
Weight has a great impact on the handling performance of a car, even BMW can not change the physical defects caused by the heavy quality of pure electric vehicles, but because the car company that created the innovative BMW iX is BMW, so this car has to be compared in the handling of this matter.
Let's start with performance
The focus of today's car companies is electrification and intelligence, so for general car companies, electric vehicles have long become an unobtainable existence in the product matrix. But for BMW, in addition to their electrification and intelligent development, they must continue to have a consistently excellent driving experience to make the BMW brand invincible in the luxury car market.
In a sense, a pure electric product with excellent driving experience is quite "split", as we mentioned above, the car weight problem is an insurmountable gap, but electrification brings an incomparably strong power parameter to the car.
Within the framework of BMW's efficient power strategy, the BMW Group has launched the fifth generation of BMW eDrive electric drive technology with the development concepts of lightweight, miniaturization, integration, scalability and sustainability, which makes the innovative BMW iX powerful. The innovative BMW iX xDrive 50 has a maximum power of 385 kW/523 hp, a peak torque of 765 Nm and a maximum acceleration time of 4.6 seconds from 100 km/h.
In addition to strong performance, high efficiency is also a compulsory course in today's pure electric powertrains, and the key to achieving long battery life in the innovative BMW iX is not to use a larger and heavier power battery, but to benefit from the outstanding energy efficiency and higher energy density battery of the fifth generation BMW eDrive electric drive system. The xDrive 50 models have a range of up to 665 km/h under CLTC standards, dual motors with a maximum output of 385 kW, peak torque of 765 Nm, 4.6 seconds from zero to 100 km/h and energy consumption as low as 18.5 kWh per 100 km/h.
The innovative BMW iX heat pump system with integrated heating and cooling enables high-voltage power batteries and drivetrains to perform at all times. The system makes use of ambient heat and heat generated by the electric drive system, thereby significantly reducing energy consumption.
The acceleration experience of electric vehicles does not need to be repeated too much, because of the abundant power, even if the 2.5-ton innovative BMW iX still looks light and not bulky in comfortable and economical mode. The brake system with 17-inch discs also gives the driver confidence and the brake foot feel is very linear.
Since we talk about brakes, we have to talk about the kinetic energy recovery problem that electric vehicles have been plaguing old drivers. In terms of braking force adjustment for kinetic energy recovery, the innovative BMW iX is also equipped with an integrated brake control system to assist in kinetic energy recovery. The system can predict the distance from the vehicle and obstacles in front of it through the vehicle's front-view high-definition camera and radar sensors, so as to reasonably adjust the braking force of the driver's kinetic energy recovery when releasing the throttle. This feature not only helps drivers get a better start with pure electric vehicles, but also combines road information to achieve the most efficient kinetic energy recovery.
This is perhaps the best product in BMW's history
It is somewhat inappropriate to give an SUV the title of "the best in BMW history", but after looking at the body structure of the innovative BMW iX, we can clearly feel that the engineers have put a lot of effort into improving the rigidity of the body, making up for the shortcomings in the quality of the equipment, and many technologies are currently only unique to the innovative BMW iX.
Innovative BMW iX uses an aluminum frame body structure, supplemented by high-strength steel, with carbon fiber reinforced composite materials, combined with innovative design and production technology, so that the innovative BMW iX body structure in the realization of lightweight while improving body rigidity and stability, reducing the body center of gravity to improve the handling sensitivity, at the same time, the front and rear subframes using a reinforced structure, front and rear stabilizer bar design also bring better stability to the body structure. Carbon fiber reinforced composites are widely used in the innovative BMW iX body side frames.
Compared to the BMW X5, the innovative BMW iX has already lost 80 kg of weight on the body-in-white and has significantly improved rigidity. As far as handling is concerned, in the extreme state, limited by the rigidity of the body, the vehicle can not withstand more pressure and there will be steering problems or the lines in the corners are not up to expectations.
The reason is like a field racing car in the empty car after the unnecessary things installed a variety of body supports, the purpose of this is to improve the rigidity of the body, to meet the needs of intense driving. While the decisive factor in determining the handling of a car lies in the tuning of the chassis suspension, body rigidity is a basic attribute of a series of tuning of the vehicle.
The mountain road experience is undoubtedly the most test of the rigidity of the body, and the performance of the innovative BMW iX is also remarkable. Sport mode provides excellent lateral support, improving the driver's handling experience while further increasing confidence in the face of unexpected situations. The innovative 2.5-ton, 3-meter wheelbase BMW iX is indeed an "elephant figure", but its performance on the mountain road makes me feel like I am "dancing".
At the same time, BMW has also introduced a large number of aluminum profiles into the pure electric platform, although the use of aluminum profiles is not special, but in the past we can only see such materials on some mid-engine supercars, this time BMW is also a pioneer.
Smart driving control configuration
In the era of intelligence, driving has also become much easier. We can see that more and more high-end comfort configurations are now being titled "adaptive", actively adjusting to cope with different road conditions, whether it is a sporty orientation or a comfort orientation, they can make the driver more worry-free.
The innovative BMW iX offers users an adaptive dual-axis air suspension that increases the flexibility and stability of cornering while maintaining comfort. The adaptive dual-axle air suspension also maintains the innovative BMW iX at a reasonable chassis height at any speed. In the default setting, if the speed exceeds 140 km/h, the chassis is automatically lowered by 10 mm to optimize high-speed driving stability, aerodynamic characteristics, and thus improve safety and endurance. In Sport mode, the chassis height is always kept at its lowest. On rough roads or garage ramps with speeds below 35 km/h, the chassis automatically raises by 20 mm to ensure optimum passability.
The innovative BMW iX is also the BMW brand's first pure electric model to apply the xDrive intelligent all-wheel drive system, which provides ideal torque distribution for the front and rear axles in real time according to the power demand during driving, aiming to improve the stability and safety of the vehicle in different weather and road conditions.
Innovation BMW iX also provides a large luxury car equipped with a monolithic active steering system, at low speed the rear wheel will turn to the front wheel opposite side to shorten the turning radius, at high speed the rear wheel will follow the front wheel to the same side, enhance the stability of high-speed lane changes and cornering, and it is precisely because of the integral active steering system, driving a car in the city nearly five meters long The innovative BMW iX does not look bulky, and it is more convenient to shuttle between traffic flows, when the driver parks the car in a side parking space with a shorter distance between the front and back. The integral active steering system can also play a supporting role.
During driving, the innovative BMW iX is equipped with a dynamic stability control system that optimizes driving stability and steering. When the driver sets the vehicle to sport mode, dynamic stability control allows for stronger wheel slippage, allowing the vehicle to produce a controlled drifting attitude and allowing the driver to have a more enjoyable driving experience. In addition, dynamic stability control is available through the power distribution system, brake readiness function, brake assist system, brake attenuation compensation, dry braking function and trailer stability control function.
epilogue
After test driving the innovative BMW iX, I have a newer and deeper understanding of BMW's pure electric products, they can not only keep up with the wave of electrification, but also be able to transfer their brand tone to pure electric products, and even let the "elephant" dance in the field they are most familiar with.