AGMC, the official importer of BMW Group vehicles for Dubai, Sharjah, and the Northern Emirates has announced that the all-new BMW iX xDrive40 and new BMW iX xDrive50 will be arriving in showrooms by the end of 2021.
The BMW iX heralds a new age in mobility. It combines trailblazing design and modern luxury with the latest innovations in highly automated driving, operation, connectivity and digital services. The BMW Group’s new technology flagship focuses on both local emission-free driving pleasure – combined with the brand’s hallmark sporting ability, efficiency, and convincing operating range – and an unwavering, integrated approach to sustainability applied from the ground up.
The BMW iX redefines the successful Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV) concept. It is the first model based on a new, modular, scalable toolkit on which the future of the BMW Group will be built. The development and production of the BMW iX follow an all-encompassing approach to sustainability involving compliance with strict environmental and social standards in the extraction of raw materials, plus the use of electricity from renewable sources and a high proportion of recycled materials in the mix.
Ayhan Olcer, CEO of AGMC, says “We are extremely excited for the arrival of the much-anticipated BMW iX vehicles at the end of the year. They underline our outlook on the brand – echoing BMW’s hallmarks with an eye on innovation and the future of mobility.
“The BMW iX demonstrates how we can give new technologies a progressive and emotional design. The models will be 5G-capable, be given enhanced automated driving and parking functions, and utilise the high-performing fifth generation of BMW Group’s electric drive system.”
Fresh design for a new driving experience
The BMW iX is leading the way for a future generation of cars with which the company is redefining sustainability, driving pleasure and what it means to be premium. This trailblazing character is clearly expressed in the car’s design, which has been developed from the inside out. The BMW iX has therefore been created to provide quality of life and wellbeing for drivers and passengers.
The clear and minimalist design of its exterior showcases a new form of mobility geared squarely to the needs of the vehicle’s occupants. Its interior offers those on-board innovative options for using the time during a journey – and enjoying relaxation, safety, security, and a new form of luxury in the process.
Monitored raw materials production, across-the-board green power for manufacturing, high proportion of natural and recycled materials.
The BMW Group procures the cobalt and lithium required for the high-voltage batteries from controlled sources in Australia and Morocco, before supplying them to the battery cell manufacturers. As in the production of the overall vehicle at BMW Group Plant Dingolfing, the battery cells are manufactured using exclusively green power from certified sources.
Since February 2021, the company has bought in aluminium manufactured using electricity from solar energy plants. The importance placed on conserving resources in the production of the BMW iX is highlighted by the high proportion of secondary aluminium and recycled plastic used.
The car’s interior features FSC-certified wood, leather tanned with olive leaf extracts and other natural materials.
Electric motors: enhancing dynamism, reducing the use of critical materials
Added to this, the electric motors for the BMW iX are marked out by a design that enables the use of rare earths to be avoided. They work according to the principle of a current-excited synchronous motor. The excitation of the rotor in the BMW iX motors is not induced by fixed permanent magnets, but the feed-in of electric energy.
This removes the need for the critical materials used to manufacture magnets, and the BMW Group is therefore not reliant on their availability.
This special design also has a positive effect on the motors’ performance characteristics. The precisely controlled excitation of the rotor using electric power enables peak torque to be on tap in full immediately on pulling away.
Unlike electric motors of conventional design, that torque is maintained over an extremely broad rev band.
The defining trait of the driving experience on board the BMW iX is, then, power development that is not only lightning fast but also unusually consistent, underscoring the car’s brand- typical sporting excellence.
In the BMW iX xDrive50, the drive system – which features one electric motor on the front axle and another at the rear axle – produces a total output of over 370 kW/500 hp and enables acceleration of 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in under 5.0 seconds.
The BMW iX xDrive40 has an output of more than 240 kW/300 hp, allowing it to sprint from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in a shade over 6.0 seconds.
Enhanced range
The electric motor, transmission and power electronics of the BMW iX come together as a highly integrated package within a single housing. This compact construction also benefits the drive system’s efficiency. Indeed, further boosted by optimised aerodynamics and intelligent lightweight design, the BMW iX posts standout efficiency for its segment. The result is average electric power consumption in the WLTP cycle of less than 21 kWh per 100 kilometres (62 miles) for the BMW iX xDrive50 and under 20 kWh per 100 kilometres (62 miles) in the case of the BMW iX xDrive40.
Like the electric motors, power electronics and charging technology for the BMW iX, its high-voltage batteries are also the product of fifth-generation BMW eDrive technology. They are positioned low down in the vehicle floor as an integral component of the body. The gravimetric energy density of the lithium-ion batteries has been increased by around 20 per cent again over the previous-generation battery.
The battery cells are manufactured according to precise specifications from the BMW Group and integrated into model-specific high-voltage batteries. The BMW iX xDrive50 is therefore fitted with a battery with a gross energy content of over 100 kWh at BMW Group Plant Dingolfing, while the battery unit for the BMW iX xDrive40 has a gross energy content of more than 70 kWh. This gives the BMW iX xDrive50 a range in excess of 600 kilometres (373 miles) in the WLTP test cycle. The WLTP-calculated range of the BMW iX xDrive40 is more than 400 kilometres (249 miles).
The new charging technology of the BMW iX enables DC (direct current) fast charging with extremely high charging power. The BMW iX xDrive50 can replenish its high-voltage battery at up to 200 kW, while the maximum charging capacity of the BMW iX xDrive40 is 150 kW.
All of which means that a ten-minute plug-in time provides sufficient energy to add more than 120 kilometres (75 miles)/ 90 kilometres (56 miles) of range.
In both model variants, the high-voltage battery’s charge can be increased from 10 to 80 per cent of its full capacity in under 40 minutes.
The new technology toolkit also underpins further advances towards highly automated driving. Making its debut in the BMW iX, it also provides the platform for significant progress in the areas of highly automated driving and digital services. For example, the level of computing power has been developed to process 20 times the data volume of previous models. As a result, around double the amount of data from vehicle sensors can be processed than was previously possible.
To know more about BMW vehicles in the UAE, head to www.findyourbmw.ae
