The 2022 International Consumer Electronics Exhibition (CES) officially opened in the early morning of January 5, Beijing time, and although many car companies were absent, BMW still brought long-awaited new cars at CES. On the opening day of CES, BMW officially released the iX M60 model. At the same time, the BMW iX M60 and BMW iX xDrive 40 were officially listed in China, with a suggested retail price of 996,900 yuan and 746,900 yuan respectively. Among them, the iX xDrive 40 will be delivered from January 2022, and the iX M60 is scheduled to start delivery in the middle of the year.
As BMW M's first high-performance electric SAV, the BMW iX M60 carries too many missions and responsibilities. Equipped with M's exclusive electric drive system, the new car has a cruising range of 566 kilometers under the WLTP standard, dual motors release a maximum output of 619 horsepower, and accelerate from zero to 100 kilometers in only 3.8 seconds. When activating the ejection start function in Sport mode, the new car will generate a maximum torque of 1100 Nm, becoming the first BMW model to exceed 1000 Nm. With a top speed of 250 km/h, the new car is by far the BMW Group's fastest pure electric production model.
Even as a pure electric SAV model, the BMW iX M60 still hasn't given up its obsession with handling, and the specially tuned chassis seems to be built for it. For example: front double wishbone rear five-link suspension, M-exclusive tuning adaptive dual-axle air suspension and electronically controlled shock absorbers, xDrive all-wheel drive, rear axle active steering, M sport braking system, etc., still bring users the driving experience, flexibility and precision that are the hallmarks of BMW M.
In my opinion, power and control are just the best tricks of the BMW iX M60, after all, it is tailor-made from the BMW M. At this CES, BMW brought electronic ink (E-ink) technology, which can make the new car achieve a one-click color change function of the body, which really made my eyes shine. Moreover, it is understood that the BMW iX M60 may be equipped with this technology, but whether it can comply with domestic regulations, I think it is still unlikely to be achieved.
Simply put, it is that the surface of the car body is covered with "electronic ink". These "e-inks" contain millions of transparent microcapsules, just the thickness of a single hair in diameter. Each microcapsule contains a negatively charged white pigment, as well as a positively charged black pigment. By controlling the electrodes on both sides of the microcapsule, the desired color appears on the body surface. BMW manufactures different sizes of "electronic ink" according to the pattern and the curvature of the car surface, which is then fixed to the car, and finally achieves a key change of color through the change of electrodes.
"Electronic ink" is very suitable for users who are easy to aesthetic fatigue, today white is tired of changing a gray, tomorrow gray does not like to change a black. Maybe in the future, it can even be like a "chameleon", which can change at any time according to different environments and weather, but if you want to achieve it in China, unless the driving license can become intelligent electronic, the photo above can be changed according to the actual color. According to BMW engineers, the convertible body color is conducive to improving the comfort of the car and reducing the energy required for the electrical system. I haven't researched it thoroughly, if you know, you can leave me a message in the background.
It is worth mentioning that BMW also teamed up with film composer and Oscar winner Hans Zimmer to design BMW IconicSounds Electric for BMW's electric vehicles. BMW has designed its own sound effects for each "theme mode", each of which has a rich sense of layering and matches the visual effects presented in different "theme modes". The technology will be the first to be installed on the BMW i4 model in the first half of 2022, and will be applied to more electric models in the future.
As for bmw iX xDrive 40, while providing users with a future luxury travel experience, it is more focused on urban travel, with a cruising range of up to 455 km under CLTC standards, dual motors releasing a maximum output of 326 hp, accelerating 6.1 seconds from zero to 100 km/ 100 km, and consuming energy at a minimum of 18.0 kWh per 100 km/ h. Equipped with two charging interfaces, DC Fast Charging and Home Charging, DC Charging can accept up to 100 kilowatts of charging power and charge the battery from 10% to 80% in just 41 minutes. The lighter weight of the vehicle leads to better energy consumption and better interpretation of BMW's concept of sustainable mobility.
In summary, by December 2021, the BMW Group has completed the delivery of the world's 1 millionth new energy vehicle. In the first 11 months of 2021, BMW delivered a total of 42,000 new energy vehicles in China, an increase of 65.8% year-on-year. The BMW Group has delivered more than 130,000 new energy vehicles in China, and the Chinese market is bound to become one of the important markets for BMW's vigorous development in the future. With the arrival of BMW iX M60, we can also see the attitude of BMW M department to new energy vehicles, which is not a step for the M department to move towards new energy, but also an important step for the M department to be luxurious and comfortable.