See here for some comments from Scott27..http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/f10-m5-discussion/148857-rumour-comment-bmwblog.html#post1708537

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Taking the KERs Hybrid concept a bit further….. My guess is that the BMW engineers are dealing with power issues associated with KERs.

Heat / Kinetic energy to Battery to Kinetic energy systems (like Toyota Prius) are really inefficient. First of all batteries are very heavy but batteries also have limited charge / discharge rates so these types of Hybrid systems will not be effective for this application.

My guess is BMW will be using very large capacitors to store this energy. Capacitors aren’t perfect either, they don’t carry as much energy as batteries but they charge an discharge very quickly allowing them to be used in brake energy recapture and power boost.

The biggest concern that I have actually is the focus of BMW ///M…..they seem to be focusing on fast trucks. I hope they don’t lose focus on cars.

As an owner of the current M6 and 335xi…..I will be holding BMW to a high standard for the F10 M5 and F12 M6.

Cheers.

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What’s the name of the system on the F01 that will allow for partial rear-wheel steering? I’m sure that will move to all BMW’s in the next 2 to 4 years as a more sporting option.

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The less something weighs the faster it can move with less power. Hopefully M Division will take that to heart.

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What’s that about recovering heat energy during braking? The only proven technology that I know of for that is peltier junctions, but they’re not very efficient.

Two more thoughts (again, speculative):

- electric front-wheel drive could eliminate front shaft+axles and the necessary ride height increase.

- seperate motors at each rear wheel or axle could give much better yaw control (steering response + cornering) than any of the differential designs.

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Tbone– That’s a good idea about using it to mask the lag. It should be very easy for them to do, as well as tune the power/torque curves to whatever they need. And yes, the 335’s revving isn’t quite lag-free or completely linear.

Actually, it would be somewhat surprising to see this technology being introduced on many-cylindered engines at first because the real benefit is in compensating for the lack of torque where the engine has fewer cylinders. The electric motors can generate huge amounts of torque (versus hp), and would be a great combination with the forthcoming 4-banger. Of course, you could still fill in the missing torque of a v10 versus v12 — if you were really missing it to begin with.

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There was no inside information…. I was just doing the analysis if I were leading the product management team over at ///M

An update since April, it is pretty clear that BMW ///M will pursue turbocharging to improve emissions and fuel economy. The challenge for BMW ///M will be to replicate the high rpm, naturally aspirated feeling of the current S85 V10 and S65 V8 engines.

I am speculating now that they will uses KERs to mask turbo lag. Don’t let people fool you, every turbo car has lag including my 335xi.

My hope is the new BMW ///M engines will still have high torque at high rpms (this is why they have unusually good acceleration today since they are always in the peak power band)…. If they go with a 7000 rpm engine, I think I am moving onto Ferrari.

Cheers.

T Bone

Come visit us on http://www.M5board.com

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It took a fuel crisis for the higher-ups to finally realize that they need to start focusing more on trimming weight. Sucks that it comes with $3-4 per-gallon prices at the pump, but if that’s what it takes so be it.

As far as the KER, I’m not quite sold. I know the technology is there to make it happen and I’m sure it’ll be beneficial… I’m just a littly cynical about all these little gimicky “solutions” to our fuel issues. Does it work? Sure. Does it have enough staying power to be in cars 20 years from now? Doubtful.

I would love to see the 3-series back below the 3k lbs mark… Perhaps this “crisis” will provide me with just that. Mmmmm… 400+hp ///M3 at 2800lb weight fully-dressed.

Lotus who?

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