BMW EfficientDynamics has reached a new milestone. They have equipped over 1,000,000 vehicles with fuel-saving technologies as a standard. BMW has proved that environmentally friendly mobility and driving pleasure are not opposites. The German automaker also has a near-production-ready vehicle that combines the performance of a BMW M model with the fuel efficiency of a modern small car.

The BMW Vision EfficientDyamics has ActiveHybrid technology and consumes only 3.76 liters/100 km and has a CO2 emission of 99g/km. The vehicle features a three-cylinder common-rail turbodiesel and an electric motor on each axle. It also has the technology to recharge the 98 lithium-polymer batteries using brake energy regeneration and has active aerodynamics with a thermoelectric generator for on-board power supply.

The technology in the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics vehicle has new technology that works to save energy. When the vehicle starts, electric energy goes from the battery to two electric motors on the front and rear axles using the engine management system. The transmission and the wheels take the energy to the road. When the vehicle brakes, the kinetic energy generated from breaking or going downhill is used to charge the battery. When the vehicle is taken on the highway, it is powered by the efficient diesel engine and double-clutch transmission on the rear axle. The BMW Vision EfficientDynamics vehicle has a thermoelectric generator that uses the lost heat from the exhaust system as another source of energy regeneration and sends the electric energy to the battery through the electric motors. Read the rest of this entry »