BMW’s next M EV to use four motors for new all-wheel-drive system

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If you still think EVs are just a fad, like The Beatles, the internet, and reality shows, BMW’s upcoming fully-electric M model would like a word. BMW’s M, its performance division, has unveiled its plan to create a new electric drive system using four (not a typo) electric motors and a singular, central control module — because who wants a peasant’s life with only two motors, right?

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Currently undergoing rigorous testing, this new drivetrain is seeing development underneath a massively modified, somewhat poorly disguised i4 M50 at the moment, with widened fenders, a new fascia, and the front suspension from an M3.

“The fact that all four wheels are each driven by an electric motor opens up completely new possibilities for infinitely variable, extremely precise, and at the same time very fast distribution of drive torque,” the German automaker said in a release. “Within milliseconds, the power and torque of the spontaneously reacting electric motors can be dosed so precisely that the load demand signaled via the accelerator pedal can be realized at a level of dynamics that is unattainable using conventional drive systems.”

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As this YouTube video shows at the 55-second point, the M EV will be capable of doing a “tank turn,” an up-to-360-degree turn within a minuscule turning radius. Before you pick your jaw up from the floor, please note the clip demonstrating that ability is pretty obviously created via CGI, and isn’t real life, but if BMW comes through with it—

New EV-maker Rivian similarly pulled off an off-road demo of this feature in late 2019 — let’s see if BMW can up the ante and turn a donut into a Timbit, radius-wise.

M driving dynamics are pretty good, and the division’s i4 and iX aren’t too shabby either, so let’s hope that when combined with four motors as the driving force, some real M-agic could happen. Better hope Ford doesn’t steal this idea for its Mustang Mach-E, considering some pony-car drivers’ poor history of peeling out of Cars and Coffee events.