BMW Co-Develops New In-Wheel Electric Motor Technology

BMW collaborated with German tech start-up DeepDrive to develop a new in-wheel electric motor technology.

BMW has partnered with German tech start-up DeepDrive to develop a new in-wheel electric motor technology. Set to be used in its future EV products, this new e-motor technology promises to provide powerful performance while at the same time being "super-efficient.”

While the automaker didn’t release any performance specifications on this new e-motor setup, the Bavarian marque said that DeepDrive has designed this new e-motor tech by melding two electric motors into a single unit. This promises to create a more compact motor unit that’s not only energy efficient but also has a high torque density.

BMW also explained that in a conventional electric motor, the stator moves either an internal or external rotor, while in this new DeepDrive motor unit, the stator drives both the internal and external rotors simultaneously.

The compact nature of this new DeepDrive motor unit also allows BMW to fit it in an in-wheel drive system, where each wheel hub on an axle has its own electric motor. Besides the in-wheel setup, BMW also explains that this new e-motor technology can also be used in a traditional, centralised drive system.

This new e-motor unit could be used in a wide range of EV products, from 'economical' ones like the iX1 eDrive20 (left) to performance-oriented ones like the i5 M60 (right).

Again, the automaker did not shed any light on the specifications of this new e-motor unit by DeepDrive. But given its compact and more energy-efficient nature, this DeepDrive e-motor tech can be applied to a wide range of EVs. Not to mention, this unit is also lighter than any other conventional e-motor units, which makes it potentially highly scalable and may cost less to produce.

From the looks of it, BMW has a pretty big ambition with this new e-motor tech by DeepDrive. However, the Bavarian automaker’s refusal to share any detailed specs of this new motor unit tells us that there’s still a long way to go before we see this new tech make its way into future BMW EVs.

Besides BMW and DeepDrive, other automotive companies have also dabbled with the idea of an in-wheel electric drive system, with one of the notable ones being Hyundai. Developed by its tech arm Hyundai Mobis, the Korean automaker aims to mass-produce its in-house in-drive e-motor tech as early as 2028, with the pre-production prototypes already being tested on the Ioniq 5 EV.