Click to view the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics concept in hi-res

The automotive industry seems to be heading in two diametrically opposed directions: developing fuel-efficient, environmentally-friendly cars on the one hand, and a seemingly never-ending race for more horsepower on the other. While BMW continues to produce overpowered performance vehicles like the V8-powered M3 and V10-powered M5 and M6 to gun for top honors in the latter category, executives in the Bavarian automaker insist that their main focus is on the former.

In an interview with AutoTelegraaf, Klaus Draeger, the BMW board member spearheading the EfficientDynamics program, says that, despite the unveiling of the M1 Hommage supercar concept, BMW will not be producing a competitor to the Audi R8 supercar. Citing deployment of the EfficientDynamics system in 850,000 vehicles this year alone, Draeger says that the company will instead focus on green technologies. "That is our biggest investment in the coming years." We'll see.

[Source: AutoTelegraaf via eGMCarTech]

Although BMW's Formula 1 team has had its fair share of troubles getting the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) to work properly, those minor setbacks may not be enough to stop the Bavarian automaker from using a similar system for its line of high performance M Division vehicles. The sophisticated hybrid system uses a high-speed flywheel to store energy which would otherwise be lost while braking which is then fed back into the driveline when the vehicle next needs to speed up. Besides being more efficient than battery storage, the KERS system is significantly lighter, coming in at just fifty-five pounds in racing configuration. On a production car, the KERS system could be combined with a much smaller battery and electric motor for true full-hybrid operation.

If these rumors hold true, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile's (FIA) goal of letting racing perform the research and development for new car technology would be achieved. We'll just need to wait and see how effective the innovative hybrid system proves in Formula 1 before making any judgements.

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport - translated]

Click the photo for a high-res gallery of the new Mini Cooper D


There has been talk of making Minis more green with a diesel option in the US recently. In unrelated news, we told you about the Smart ForTwo (among other cars) with a stop-start "micro-hybrid." In the fine tradition of unrelated things becoming related (Luke and Leia, how ya doing?), we now bring you news of upcoming Minis with stop-start technology, courtesy of Bosch. Automotive News Europe's Luca Ciferri says (subs req'd) these Minis, which will also have regenerative breaking, will go on sale in September and, for the diesel version at least, will have CO2 emissions that match a Prius.

Look for more information on the baby hybrid Minis at the Frankfurt auto show in September. BMW will also bring start-stop to the 3-series range

[Source: Automotive News Europe / Luca Ciferri (subs req'd)]

When Margo Oge, director of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, mentioned that ethanol production is way past the governments mandates, this article says that Cristoph Huss, BMW senior vice president for science and traffic policy, shook his head. He suggests that BMW still sees hydrogen as the long-term answer to the automotive problems of emissions and energy needs. This, despite the fact that U.S. consumers are shifting more towards renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Perhaps this is because the hydrogen economy is very far off, while biofuels are here and now. The question could be asked, how long should we wait for hydrogen before exploring our other options? Even if hydrogen does emerge as the best option long-term, should the short-term solutions be ignored?

It should be noted that BMW is working with DaimlerChrysler and GM on hybrid technology and could possibly bring some of their high-output diesels to the U.S. market. Remember, too, that BMW currently offers their dual-fuel Hydrogen 7 which is capable of running its ICE on hydrogen or gasoline.

[Source: Detroit News]

The car most drivers associate with being green is a hybrid, and BMW doesn't offer any of those (and they probably won't any time soon). Still, that doesn't mean BMW isn't a green company, as a study done by the Berlin Institute for Future Studies and Technology Evaluation (IZT) found.

IZT compared 28 German companies, and BMW Group came out on top for being "the most efficient in using its financial, ecological and social resources. In terms of sustainability, the BMW Group manages its resources five times better than the German economy."

The green goings on in Bimmer-land include reducing energy by, for example, recovering heat from exhaust air in factories, especially the showcase green plant in Spartanburg. That plant gets "obtains around 63 percent of its energy from methane gas from a landfill site nearby, which allowed it to reduce its CO2 emissions in 2006 by 53,593 tonnes." You can more details after the jump in the proud release BMW sent out.

Green or now, BMW still made the Hydrogen 7, so there's room for improvement.



[Source: BMW]

Even though BMW has been working on a joint development program with General Motors and DaimlerChrysler for the two-mode hybrid system for a couple of years now, it looks like the system may never actually get installed in a BMW vehicle. BMW has been a diesel proponent for many years and will soon be launching new diesels in the US market. However they have yet to publicly commit to a vehicle or introduction date, even though GM will have the system on their full size SUVs starting this fall and Chrysler will introduce it early next year.

A BMW engineer told AutoCar that diesels are still more efficient in most real world conditions. The hybrids do well in low speed stop-start conditions, but otherwise can't beat a diesel. At the Detroit Auto Show in January Daniel Kammerer told ABG that BMW wouldn't introduce the hybrids until about 2010-11. Since then BMW has introduced a start-stop system on the 1-Series and announced a mild-hybrid system with DCX. It seems like for the near term, BMW will focus on the simpler lower cost aspects of hybrids in combination with their gas and diesel engines.

[Source: AutoCar]

The engines in sports cars aren't built for fuel efficiency or low emissions, they're built for speed and power. It's always nice when these seemingly mutually exclusive design criteria align, but typically you're not going to see too much written about sports car V8 engines on AutoblogGreen. One such engine which we'd usually spurn is the brand new V8 powerplant that BMW is shoehorning into their M3 super sedan. There was one feature of this particular engine hidden way down the bottom of the BMW press release though that caught my green eye - it features a new technology BMW are terming Brake Energy Regeneration.

Brake Energy Regeneration is an electrical current management technology that ensures intelligent generation of electric power by restricting production to the engine overrun phases and the application of the brakes. The power produced is used to run the vehicle's electrical network and charge the battery which is restricted via Brake Energy Regeneration to times when the engine will not be hampered by the additional draw upon its resources.

Analysis: Is it just me or does this sound like BMW have been toying around with hybrid regenerative braking? I'm pretty sure that if BMW thought putting electric hub motors on each wheel of their M3, M5 and M6 would increase their performance they'd do it tomorrow. Perhaps the next M-powered BMW will be a hybrid sports?

Full press release after the jump.

Related:

• Video of the BMW regenerative braking system
• DaimlerChrysler to engineer all future vehicles for hybrid power-trains
• Geneva Motor Show: live reveal pictures of the Hybrid X and Honda Small Hybrid Sport
• Nissan working on a luxury performance hybrid for 2010?

[Source: BMW]

Starting this month Robert Bosch GmbH will begin supplying a new start-stop system to BMW for installation on the updated 1-series. BMW will be selling a variety of efficiency enhancing technologies under the brand EfficientDynamics, that will be standard on the 1-series and include the start-stop system and regenerative braking. The start-stop system uses a modified starter motor that Bosch is calling a Smart Starter-Motor.

The new starter has been beefed up to handle the significantly increased number of starts it will have to make over the life of the vehicle and also improve the performance. The system provides some of the benefit of a full-on hybrid at a significantly lower cost. The new ECE15 driving cycle test requires twelve stops of fifteen seconds over a 4.3 mile distance, and the start-stop system helps reduce fuel consumption and CO2 output by up to eight percent. It's not a lot but for a fairly minimal cost, it's a lot of benefit. Longer stops will result in more engine off time and proportionally greater savings. The only question is how smoothly the system will operate, which hopefully will be significantly better than BMW's SMG transmission. If it's not too jerky it could be a very useful system from a cost-benefit standpoint.

[Source: Just-Auto - subscription required]