Autosport Plus

BMW's Blitzmobile

FIA president Max Mosley revealed last week his plan to introduce a high-tech energy storage system to Formula One, in a bid to improve overtaking. The system is already experimented in parts of the motor industry, and Karl Ludvigsen was among the first to test-drive BMW's own experimental X5 vehicle some two years ago. With an extraordinary marriage of quick-response electrical storage and gasoline power, the prototype has shown just why the automakers are enthusiastic about Mosley's idea

Karl Ludvigsen Jul 20, 2005, 12:40 PM

Let's suppose that someone came along and said, "I have a device for your car that will, at one fell swoop, improve both its performance and its fuel economy."

You'd say, "What's the catch? Surely you can't do both at the same time?" And you'd be right. When added performance is used to the full, fuel economy will suffer. Nevertheless, a system that can offer improvements in both, according to the way the car is driven, has to be attractive. And that's just what BMW's engineers have achieved experimentally two years ago in an X5 with a system they call "Efficient Dynamics". We call it BMW's "Blitzmobile" for reasons which will become evident.