Electric BMW M cars to use up to four electric motors – report

The head of BMW's performance division has revealed its engineers are researching a range of future electric cars.

And the vehicles could come with up to four electric motors – one for each wheel – controlled by a central computer nicknamed the "hand of God".

Speaking to online magazine Ars Technica, and originally spotted by BMWBlog, BMW M CEO Frank van Meel said the company's next generation of high-performance electric cars could feature both twin-motor and quad-motor versions – allowing for both rear- and all-wheel drive options.

Integral to the system is a central computer, which Mr van Meel calls the 'hand of God', tasked with the job of monitoring how the vehicle is moving in three dimensions, as well as controlling the electric motors and the suspension in a single place.

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"With a quad-motor concept, we are now looking into a 'hand-of-God' logic that also has the drive performance – so the drivetrain as well as the chassis systems in one central logic," Mr van Meel told Ars Technica.

The benefit is there is almost no lag as different computers communicate with each other – which can be as much as 10 to 20 milliseconds.

"And with four e-motors, we can also do ABS braking with electric motors instead of brake discs so we can get back a lot of energy and up to 30 per cent or more range on the track. So these are things we're currently looking at as well for future race cars as for high-performance vehicles," he said.

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Based on the forthcoming Neue Klasse electric-vehicle architecture, Mr van Meel says M engineers are focusing on longevity and driving dynamics, rather than outright performance.

"It's not only about big electric motors, I think that's the easiest thing – you can take them from trains, they have very strong electric motors. The principle has been on the market for more than 100 years.

"But the trick is to make electric motors very light, very powerful, very compact, but at the same time, you also have to have the right cooling so that they can keep up their performance," Mr van Meel said.