BMW i3s Traction Control System Destined for Future MINIs

The BMW i3s traction control system is destined for all future MINIs according to BMW. The system is designed to work particularly well with electric motors which typically have high torque very low in the rev range.
Why is it such an important development? Rather than a computer executing a program and then sending that information to the drivetrain, this new system is part of the drivetrain. This allows for a system that is 50 times faster than conventional traction control systems.
When will we see this make its way into future MINIs and BMWs? We expect that this is destined for almost everything that is on a ground up new platform as well as the new electric MINI E.
Official release: The BMW i3 sets standards worldwide for driving pleasure in a purely electrically-driven vehicle. Key factors here are not only the increased output of the motor in the new BMW i3s, but also the innovative traction control system adapted specifically to the instantaneous power deliver of the BMW eDrive system. Presented for the first time in the new BMW i3s the system improves traction and driving stability in adverse weather and road conditions when pulling away, in active Brake Energy Regeneration phases and when accelerating out of tight corners. At the heart of this innovation is the control system’s 50-times-faster routine, made possible because – unlike conventional driving stability systems – the control process is now calculated directly in the powertrain instead of in a remote unit requiring long signal paths.
“With their high levels of torque and instantaneous responses to every movement of the accelerator, electric motors already make significantly higher demands on driving stability systems than conventional power units,” explains Peter Langen, Head of Chassis Development at BMW.
That’s why the BMW engineers developed a new type of system geared squarely to the demands of electric mobility.
The positive impact of these shorter control cycles is not reserved for purely electrically driven cars; indeed, this innovative traction control system also optimises traction, driving stability and driving dynamics in vehicles with combustion engines. It will therefore be fitted in BMW and MINI models with front-, rear- and all-wheel drive to deliver noticeably greater assurance and driving pleasure when road conditions make pulling away difficult.