BMW has been making sixth-generation electric motors at the Steyr plant since last September. However, those Gen6 “electric engines,” as the company calls them, have been part of a pre-series phase. Now, the actual hardware that will power future EVs has entered series production at the plant in Austria. The first application will be in the new iX3, specifically the 50 xDrive model launching later this year.
Compared to the Gen5 engine powering the outgoing CLAR-based iX3, its successor will cut energy loss by 40%. Additionally, BMW has reduced weight by 10% and slashed costs by 20%. Combined with other tweaks, the electric crossover’s overall efficiency is improving by around 20%. The German luxury brand reiterates that it will be possible to cover 800 kilometers (497 miles) in the WLTP cycle with the iX3 50 xDrive.
However, we reckon a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive version should go even farther, potentially hitting the 900 km (559 miles) already mentioned by BMW. If the iX3 won’t be able to reach that, the reborn i3 should, given that the sedan will have a sleeker body with a lower drag coefficient. The sedan is also going to weigh less than the equivalent crossover.
The first batches of BMW’s so-called “e-engine” are headed to the new Debrecen plant in Hungary, where the next-gen iX3 will be assembled from the end of this year. Later in 2026, the i3 sedan built in Munich will get the same Gen6 motors. Additional EVs will benefit from the all-new electric motors, including the CLAR-based iX5, iX6, and iX7.
Depending on the application, future BMWs will have one, two, three, or four motors. However, there won’t be any front-wheel-drive cars in the Neue Klasse era. Front-mounted asynchronous motors (ASM) don’t have a built-in gearbox and are less powerful than the rear-mounted electrically excited synchronous motors (EESM). This also means future MINI EVs with Gen6 motors will come only in rear- and all-wheel-drive configurations. With the risk of stating the obvious, there won’t be any front-wheel-drive Rolls-Royce or ALPINA models either.
As for power, four EESM versions are planned, ranging from 268 hp (200 kW) to 402 hp (300 kW). The ASM will come with either 161 hp (120 kW) or 241 hp (180 kW). BMW M has already said that, should there be a quad-motor EV one day, it would be capable of delivering a combined one megawatt of power, so a staggering 1,341 hp. However, BMW isn’t committing to making an electric supercar, at least not yet.
Source: BMW