It hasn’t been officially confirmed just yet but it’s pretty much a certainty at this point—the next-gen BMW M3 will be fully electric. It has to be, as all of its competitors are doing it and if BMW sticks with piston power, it’s going to look like a dinosaur. One of its competitors has already been officially announced and has ambitious power goals. According to Car Magazine, Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato said that the next-gen Giulia Quadrifoglio will be entirely electric and will make 1,000 horsepower. In the immortal words of Keanu Reeves… woah.
Imparato said that the entire Giulia lineup would be electric and come in several different power configurations. “It will have range, and from 350 horsepower to 800 horsepower as a Veloce, and 1000hp as a Quadrifoglio.”
Even more than that, he also claimed that it will have an 800-volt architecture, for fast charging, and a maximum range of 700 km (435 miles). That would give it more range than any current BMW electric car but we don’t know for sure what BMW’s future Neue Klasse cars will have. BMW claims they will have similar ranges, too, so we’ll see.
We also know that BMW has been working on a quad-motor electric powertrain, which could make around 1,000 horsepower as well. With four motors, that’s actually a pretty easily attainable power figure. BMW might also be working on a new active rear differential for electric car axles with two motors. So the next-gen BMW M3 might not only have 1,000 horsepower but it could also have four motors and trick differentials.
Imparato doesn’t say how many motors the electric Giulia Quadrifoglio will have. However, he does say that it will be all-wheel drive. More powerful models will be all-wheel drive, while less models will be rear-wheel drive. Though, it’s hard to imagine any brand trying to make 800-1,000 horsepower with just two motors. You’d need monstrous electric motors at each axle to do so, plus you’d lose the torque vectoring of multi-motor axles. So expect at least three motors for the Giulia Quadrifoglio, similar to the Maserati Gran Turismo Folgore.
If the idea of a 1,000 horsepower Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio doesn’t excite you, even if it’s electric, there’s something wrong. Sport sedans might lose the aural and mechanical magic of internal combustion, and there is something to be said about hearing a Giulia Quadrifoglio V6 at full chat, but I fully trust those clever Italians to make something that thrills anyway. Hopefully, BMW can match it and we can have some epic super sedan battles.
[Source: Car Magazine]
