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SEE ALSO: 2010 BMW Group Innovation Days Mobility of the FutureComplete Report: Chapter 1. Why Electromobility? Chapter 2. Project i. Chapter 3. The Electric Drivetrain. Chapter 4. Lightweight design and the LifeDrive concept. Chapter 5. CFRP – A Material for the Future.

Chapter 2. project i

Based on its review of current social and environmental trends (ch.1), in mid-2007 the BMW Group presented a new strategic roadmap for thecompany – the “Number One” strategy. This strategy makesa firm commitment to profitability, sustainable value creation andsafeguarding the company’s independence. As well as growing thecompany’s core business, the aim is also to develop new profitablebusiness lines across the entire automobile life cycle and value chain. Atthe same time, the BMW Group has resolved to invest substantial amounts intechnologies of the future, new vehicle concepts and pioneering drivesystems. The aim is clear: to maintain the BMW Group’s position asthe leading supplier of premium products and premium services for personalmobility.

The new corporate strategy is based on a wide-rangingqualitativereview of society’s aspirations in the field of mobility and also ofthe potential shape of future technologies, trends and challenges in thisfield – particularly in the context of climate and demographictrends. one of the company’s answers to these issues is project i.

“project i is the BMW Group’s response to the futurechallenges in the field of personal mobility.” (Martin Arlt)

project i: the mission.project i, launched in late 2007, is an initiative to developsustainable and pioneering mobility concepts. There must also be acollateral transfer of know-how from this project to the company as a whole and to future vehicle projects. The long-term goal of project i is to bring fresh thinking to the company’s technologies, processes and vehicleconcepts, whether in production, development or sales. The concrete mission is to develop new, pioneering products geared closely to future challengesand customer requirements in the field of urban mobility.

The approach.But how best to implement this mission? Ultimately, what isrequired is not just new processes and technologies but a complete critical reappraisal of automobile design as we know it. that is why project itranscends existing structures and brings together in a single unit experts and “outside-the-box” thinkers from throughout the company.This small but efficient and dynamic organisational unit is tasked withdefining the aims and requirements for sustainable mobility solutions oftomorrow and aligning them with future customer requirements. to help thisteam shed all constraints and preconceptions, the project is notbrand-specific. This allows the think tank to take an unconventional andindependent approach, yet at the same time to work with the full support of experts drawn from the entire company. In a culture of open and transparent knowledge-sharing, project i leverages expertise from all parts of thecompany.

“It’s a great experience for me to be able to work in aproject like this, with colleagues who are all on a similar wavelength.from the start, we were given every freedom we needed. The result was amood, an atmosphere you would normally only encounter in a start-upcompany.” (Peter Ratz)

A new departure.But the BMW Group development engineers who embarked on project itwo and a half years ago were not starting completely from scratch. Theirpoint of departure was the intensive research which the company had already undertaken into mobility issues and future customer requirements, with theaim of identifying new development potential for the BMW Group. Andalthough the project i research work is carried out not just with reference to vehicles but in the wider context of integrated mobility solutions as awhole, it quickly became clear that the first milestone in the projectwould be a car, one that would combine maximum eco-friendliness –i.e. zero-emission operation – with a clear focus on modern urbanmobility requirements. This vehicle has a name: the “MegacityVehicle” (MCV).

The overall project goal is maximum sustainability. from theproduction process, starting with the first supplier, through to componentrecycling at the end of the vehicle life cycle, sustainability based on the three cornerstones of eco-friendliness, economic efficiency (profitability) and social compatibility must be the main process driver. First of all,therefore, the developers scrutinised all processes and components in thevalue chain. they verified whether existing processes were adequate to meet the project’s high sustainability ambitions or whether some areas ofthe chain were in need of optimisation or redesign. The outcome of thisassessment formed the starting point for developing the Megacity Vehicle.

“we wanted to get a clearer picture of what future mobilitywill look like and, based on that, to develop sustainable mobility concepts specifically for urban application. also, we wanted this sustainability toextend to the entire process, from development of the product, through itsuseful life, to component recycling or reuse.” (Peter Ratz)

The result.The project has made the most of all available freedoms and allscope for “pushing the envelope”. The result is an integratedand sustainable mobility concept – the Megacity Vehicle (MCV). TheMCV represents the BMW Group’s vision of one possible concept for asustainable city car. It is designed mainly for urban operation andcombines dynamism with comfort and sustainability. with the newly developed electric drivetrain (ch. 3), the revolutionary “LifeDrive” bodyconcept and the innovative use of CFRP in the passenger cell (ch. 4), it is a solution for confident, safe and convenient urban driving which is alsocompletely emission-free.

The MCV was developed from an integrated, comprehensive perspectivethat necessitates certain fundamental process changes. Due to the newpowertrain and vehicle architecture, and the use of innovative materials,certain production processes are entirely new. to meet these novelrequirements, the BMW Group is lining up new, high-grade expertise, jointly developed with strong partners like SB LiMotive (battery cell development)and SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers (carbon fibre and carbon fibre fabricsmanufacturing).

“The technologies developed by the BMW Group for project ioffer enormous potential for ensuring ecological and economicsustainability.” (Martin Arlt)

But although the principle of sustainability underpins every stagein the process chain, the BMW Group never focuses solely oneco-friendliness and resource efficiency to the exclusion of all else. Itsproducts must also be economically sustainable, as well as profitable.

MINI E – pioneering new ground in electric mobility.The success story known as project i began to take more concreteshape in spring 2008 with the MINI E. It was also around this time that the project first came to the notice of a wider public. As the BMWGroup’s first e-mobility enabling project, the MINI E not only setnew technical standards; with an average driving range of 150 kilometres in everyday operation and maximum power of 204 hp, it also pioneered newground as part of the BMW Group’s alternative drive developmentprogramme and as a step on the way to future CO2-free mobility.

One of the first aims of the MINI E project was to release vehiclesfor customer trials as soon as possible in order to gain valuable feedbackfrom users about the performance of electric vehicles in day-to-dayoperation. since mid-2009, therefore, selected customers have been takingpart in large-scale MINI E field trials in Germany, the USA and the UnitedKingdom. In two intensive testing phases, limited-production MINI E modelsare supplying important information about driving patterns and vehicleoperating performance, all of which is being incorporated into the ongoingdevelopment and refinement of the MCV. Comprising more than 600 MINI Evehicles, the BMW Group’s EV customer test fleet is one of thelargest in the world.

The MINI E on the road.In all three countries where trials are taking place, the BMW Group is working, often closely, with local energy companies, universities andgovernments. The MINI project is not just about giving users theopportunity to experience a completely new style of personal mobility, itis also about getting together with partners to shape some of theinfrastructure. For example, the energy companies can enable users to runtheir vehicle on “green”, renewable electricity, if thecustomer so wishes.

MINI E driving patterns study, Berlin – electric mobilityis suitable for everyday use.Although the trials are still in full flow, initial results fromBerlin are extremely encouraging. In a pre-trial survey, the pilot userssaid they expected to find the vehicle’s operating range andrecharging times restricting. In practice, however, only in a few caseswere these fears actually borne out. The Berlin study showed that more than 90% of participants did not find that the average 150-kilometre drivingrange restricted their customary mobility patterns in any way. Nor did they find the charging times a constraint.

Driving patterns for the MINI E users proved to be only marginallydifferent from the driving patterns of comparable MINI Cooper and BMW 116iusers. Average trip distance differed between BMW 116i, MINI Cooper andMINI E users by only two kilometres. Total daily mileage was also similarfor all three vehicles, standing at 37.8 kilometres for the MINI E(slightly above the urban average for Germany as a whole), 42 kilometresfor the BMW 116i and 43.5 kilometres for the MINI Cooper. The longestsingle trip to date by a MINI E customer was 158 kilometres.

Nevertheless, a comparison with the typical driving patterns for the BMW 5 Series also shows that an electric vehicle is not equally suitablefor all types of mobility needs. Nor has this ever been claimed.nevertheless, 66% of Berlin users rate the MINI E as equal to aconventional vehicle on flexibility.

As far as recharging is concerned, it is becoming clear that, asregards public infrastructure, users’ first preference is forcharging points near to the workplace, in public parking garages, at majortraffic hubs such as railway stations and airports, and in shoppingcentres. The most popular recharging option overall, however, is a homecharging point, which is already sufficient to meet day-to-day drivingneeds. The option of recharging with renewable electricity provided byproject partners Vattenfall Europe met with a great deal of interest. Thisindicates that users view the electric vehicle as part of a wider systemwhich includes not only the vehicle, but also the recharging infrastructure and the origin of the energy used, and that they want to make responsiblebehaviour choices within that overall framework.

MINI E in the USA – more driving enjoyment, with zeroemissions. Customer field trials with the MINI E are under way in the USA too. Trials with the large 450-vehicle fleet in the USA were monitored by theBMW Group in a special research collaboration with the University ofCalifornia (UC Davis). This study closely examined the MINI E’spracticality for ordinary, everyday driving and again sought to shed morelight on driving patterns.

The results confirm the positive feedback already obtained inBerlin. In the USA, too, the MINI E fully meets the mobility needs of pilot users. The range of 100 miles (approx. 160 km) is perfectly adequate fortheir daily driving needs. In the USA, the average total daily mileagequoted by the MINI E drivers was approximately 30 miles (48 km), whichcompares with average daily car use of 40 miles (approx. 64 km) for USdrivers as a whole. Home charging was not a problem for users in the USA either. half of usersroutinely charged their vehicle on a daily basis, even if this was notactually necessary. As a result, they rarely needed to recharge the vehicle anywhere but in their own garage.

The MINI E also scored high on driving enjoyment. all drivers agreed that it demanded no concessions in this regard. The pilot users quickly got used to the new driving feel and many even went so far as to say that whenthey changed back to their own car, they found it a less satisfying drive.This is also reflected in the frequency of usage. A third of users saidthey actually clocked up a higher mileage in the MINI E than in the vehicle it replaced.

Conclusions from the studies.The results from Berlin and California demonstrate that the BMWGroup is on the right course. There were only a few trips that the pilotusers could not perform with the MINI E. The reasons most frequently citedfor this in the USA, as in Germany, were limited luggage and passengercapacity. The study data shows that, with a slightly longer driving rangeand more space, a Megacity Vehicle would meet virtually 100% of citydwellers’ driving needs. The BMW Group is already pulling out all thestops to make the necessary changes.

BMW ActiveE concept vehicle – the next step.The BMW ActiveE concept vehicle is a logical continuation of theresearch and development work on electric mobility being carried out by the BMW Group under project i. Based on the BMW ActiveE concept, which wasunveiled in December 2009, the BMW Group will release a second electricvehicle fleet for customer testing in 2011. The aim of this field trialwill be to acquire further knowledge about how well electric vehicles canmeet everyday driving needs, and to gain more feedback on what customerswant from their vehicle.

Whereas in the MINI E interior space was relatively limited, the BMW ActiveE concept vehicle provides four full-sized seats and boot capacity of approximately 200 litres, thanks to improved integration of the electricdrivetrain components. The electric motor specially developed for thisall-electric BMW has a rated output of 125 kW/170 hp and a rated torque of250 Newton metres. Energy is supplied from the likewise all-new lithium-ion batteries, which give a driving range of approximately 160 kilometres (100miles) in everyday use. The electric powertrain components are apre-production test version of a powertrain designed for the MCV.

The BMW ActiveE concept vehicle also presents new BMW ConnectedDrive services developed specially for electric vehicles. they include mobilephone-based functions such as battery status checking, charging stationlocation and remote activation of the auxiliary heating and airconditioning.

The Megacity Vehicle – the BMW Group’s firstelectrically powered production car.With the Megacity Vehicle (MCV), the BMW Group will offer aninnovative solution for sustainable urban mobility which will be broughtonto the market by 2013 and sold under a BMW sub-brand. As the developmentwork on the MINI E and BMW ActiveE concept vehicle confirms, any approachthat simply converts an existing internal combustion-engined vehicle to run on electric drive (conversion car) cannot hope to harness the fullpotential of electric drive. The MCV is therefore designed uncompromisingly and specifically around the needs and requirements of electric mobility.The MCV has a newly developed drivetrain (ch. 3) and a revolutionaryvehicle architecture (LifeDrive, ch. 4) that combines rigorous lightweightdesign with optimal space efficiency and maximum crash safety. since thecompact electric drivetrain creates opportunities for new interiorconfiguration options and functionality, as well as greater designfreedoms, the MCV will also appeal to a new clientele.

SEE ALSO: 2010 BMW Group Innovation Days Mobility of the FutureComplete Report: Chapter 1. Why Electromobility? Chapter 2. Project i. Chapter 3. The Electric Drivetrain. Chapter 4. Lightweight design and the LifeDrive concept. Chapter 5. CFRP – A Material for the Future.

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