BMW Motorsport was the only manufacturer -next to NIO- qeu not attended the test in Monteblanco, first test joint for all teams with the ‘Gen 2’, the single-seater which will compete in the Formula E starting the season 2018-19. A technical problem of last minute prevented the team to go to this test, just as he had planned, so that technicians of the brand took the decision to postpone its debut. Despite this, the release of the first 100% electric vehicle competition of BMW has not been made to wait and the BMW iFE.18 have made their first kilometers.
This first test of the BMW iFE.18 has taken place in the historic tracks of the Academy that BMW and Mini Driving have in Maisach, near Munich. In charge of conducting this kind of shakedown has been Tom Blomqvist, official pilot of the mark. Have hardly been a few miles, sufficient in any case to verify that everything is correct in the single-seater for the following tests. In fact, it is expected that the new BMW iFE.18 return to the track for the second official test that the Formula E has arranged for all the equipment in the circuit of Calafat, between days 17 and 19 of April.
The powertrain was developed by BMW to this BMW iFE.18 is the true heart of this car, that has a chassis that is common developed by Spark. For this reason, BMW wanted to bring chest and has offered some figures in comparison with the BMW i3, its first electric model of street. According to the data provided by the manufacturer, the powertrain of the BMW iFE.18 is 50% lighter than the i3, a 66% more compact and delivers performance that is 100% greater. In fact, the engine achieves a 400% more revolutions than the production vehicle.
Jens Marquardt, head of BMW Motorsport, said after the test: “The BMW iFE.18 is a real milestone for our company. After months of excellent work and collaboration between product engineers and of competition, we now have this car in action. The project to compete in Formula E has seen the higher technology transfer between production and competition in the history of BMW. All involved have brought life to the motto ‘TechLab for BMW i’ from the first moment. I can barely wait to see it in action, this single-seater for the first time in the colours of BMW i Motorsport at the start of the fifth season”.
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