BMW is working on a simulated gearbox for EV sports cars

Department M is studying software that emulates the operation of a traditional transmission (and sounds good too).

By: Francesco Barontini

Jun 26, 2024 at 7:56am ET

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BMW could introduce a simulated gearbox on its electric cars. That's according to Frank van Meel, head of BMW Motorsport's M department. He said that finding a way to replicate the operation of a mechanical transmission on a battery-powered car could be a way of making zero-emission driving more attractive.

According to BMW Motorsport's number one, this type of gearbox could even reproduce the character of an automatic gearbox, but also that of a manual gearbox, with a clutch pedal and lever on the central tunnel.

Hyundai has innovated

BMW M has been studying artificial transmissions for several years and claims to have developed some very interesting solutions. In a recent interview with Top Gear, Van Meel also praised what Hyundai has achieved with the Ioniq 5 N, a car in which the operation of a dual-clutch gearbox is reproduced by software in an extremely precise and realistic way, without the slightest hitch in gear changes.

Ioniq 5 N: electric sports car with simulated gearbox and sound

Hyundai's solution is particularly successful because the engineers have reproduced the torque curves of all the gears and combined them with the sound of the i30 N's turbocharged four-cylinder engine. While they can still improve the sound, they have already achieved perfection in the way the transmission works.

Working on sound too

But back to BMW. In Munich, in addition to the 'digital' gearbox, they are also working on engine noise.

"We're talking about the technologies needed to make driving an electric car more involving. When you drive an electric car with only one gear and no sound, it's difficult to feel emotions. What's more, on the track you have no sense of how fast you're going. There's a lack of reference."

With a simulated gearbox and a familiar sound, it's completely different.

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Dirk Hacker, head of development at BMW M, also described the Ioniq 5 N as a very interesting car. On closer inspection, it was developed by his old friend and colleague Albert Biermann, who joined Hyundai after a few years as head of BMW's M department. For the moment, neither Hacker nor Von Meel will say on which electric cars the simulated gearbox will be fitted. It will probably make its debut around 2027 on cars built on the Neue Klasse platform.