Starting with its last CEO, Harald Krueger, to Oliver Zipse, BMW has used compatibility platforms (48V, PHEV and BEV) to respond to market demand. In fact, starting from the I brand, due to the wrong timing, this makes BMW's internal most knowledgeable electrification of a group of people out, and left a large number of internal combustion engine advocates, which makes BMW did not operate a pure electric brand independently in time, the biggest problem of plugging in and coming in is still iterative slow, and the investment in the entire electrification is limited.
Figure 1. Let consumers choose, is to differentiate the model,
As a result, PHEV is not strong, and BEV is not strong (X3 is like this)
This objectively caused the entire layout engineers to not be able to develop around beev, retaining the 48V design, and also making all the battery systems inside THE PHEV become Transformers, all kinds of them.
Figure 2. The same is true of the 7 Series released by BMW this time
Part 1 I3 and I7
This year is a big year for BMW's electrification products, the new i3 was sent in China, then the i7 was also sent, followed by the iX1, that is
● Trolley: Mini BEV and subsequent Mini countryman BEV
● Sedan: China's new i3, global i4, global i7, joined the i5 in 2023
● SUVs: iX3, iX and subsequent iX1
However, there is indeed a great contradiction in the whole war situation, these models are all modified from fuel vehicles, and when selling pure electric versions, they must be structurally compatible with 48V fuel version and plug-in hybrid version. Company-wide sales in Q1 2022 were 596,907 units, down 6% year-over-year. The sales volume of new energy vehicles was 89669 units, which was only 27.6% year-on-year. Due to the lack of chips, BMW is also gradually making the amount of plug-in hybrids less, and tilting energy and resources to pure electric. What can be said is that the total sales of pure electric vehicles (BMW and MINI) reached 35,289 units, an increase of 149% year-on-year, which is really a bit out of sync with the performance of Tesla (305,407).
From the perspective of battery configuration, the current types of batteries are mainly divided into:
● Low battery double row group: power range from 70kWh and 83.9kWh
● High battery double row group: power range from 76.6kWh to 107.8kwh and 111.5kWh
● Wide battery single row group: 70kWh
Note: My understanding that the new I3 uses the I4 Pack, which may also be wrong, and the Chinese version uses the original wide battery cell to use it directly
Figure 3. Electrification of BMW will be launched in 2022-2023
The battery system of the i7 this time is basically similar to the iX, and the difference is that there are two small modules that protrude. But overall, because the total amount of 35,000 units a quarter, the follow-up continues to increase for a year, that is, about 180,000 units, this purchase volume to SDI, CATL a point, follow-up to join Northvolt and Ewell lithium energy seems to be not enough points.
Figure 4. The BMW high-cell version is available in two designs
If we compare Tesla and BMW designs, we can measure the utilization of the vehicle in the Z direction. All the logic of everyone, in the design direction of the square shell battery, is to try to achieve the high utilization rate of JR's height to the Z direction of the vehicle, and try to increase the utilization rate in the Z direction to improve the energy density of the battery cell. The design around the square shell module (the design of the tab up) has a bottleneck in the Z direction. BMW's fast charging power of 200-205kW at 400V has tapped a lot of potential, and this piece does not see a particularly good direction for improvement.
Figure 5. Battery Cutway shown by BMW on IAA
Since the overall fifth-generation motor output of BMW is through the construction method that does not require rare earth materials, the cost of raw materials of the motor factory can be controlled, but the overall efficiency has taken a lot of energy.
Figure 6. BMW's rare earth-free electric drive system
I think bmw will be very uncomfortable in the whole strategy here, around the world BMW and Mercedes-Benz entry models (3 series and X3 fuel vehicles) are replaced by Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y frontally, Tesla's target of 1.5 million in 2022 starts, from the total amount of close to the two German luxury cars, squeezing the living space of these luxury cars. At present, whether it is to deal with Tesla's I3 and I4 head-on, dragging fuel vehicles and plug-in hybrids are moving forward, as Tesla runs faster and faster, even the models of the new forces in China are also rushing up.
Part 2 BMW in the problem of intelligence
I7 above, BMW is now playing with the concept of crystal, split headlights, the upper part of the double L-type daytime running lights, the lower part of the integrated Swarovski jointly created headlight module, a variety of physical buttons in the car and a variety of atmosphere light materials, all using crystal material accessories, even the seat adjustment buttons on the door panel are crystal kits.
Figure 7. In this way, the future BBA flagship version competes in the kung fu of shiny crystals
Figure 8. The front is mainly by curved screens
At CES, the bold rear 31-inch giant screen is displayed, equipped with BMW cinema mode in-car entertainment system, supporting 8K resolution and providing 5G capabilities. This piece is actually very much in line with the needs of business people in the back row, and the rear entertainment control panel is integrated at the door handle, and the design of this small screen is easier than matching with mobile phones. According to the effect of overseas publicity, this piece integrates the overseas entertainment and audio-visual ecosystem.
Figure 9. The BMW I7's rear-seat entertainment system is still very cool
In general, to what extent the intelligent driving and cockpit system can be achieved, we still don't know, this is a compatible system, this piece may be more in line with the needs of 7 series fuel vehicle users, but look at the electric car inside, may not be particularly new.
Summary: I think Ford's approach is still desirable, let the fuel car and electric car operate independently, and the fuel car at most considers heV and PHEV, this model may be based on the logic of reality. At present, BMW has invested a lot, but the i7 car alone may not be special, but the cockpit and automatic assisted driving update of the fuel vehicle system is better, which combined with the BMW system selection we looked at before, may not be positive enough, compared to Mercedes-Benz may choose a less good road.