All future BMW and MINI models will feature the new i3's traction control system

The tests that the engineers of the Bavarian brand have been carrying out using the new traction control system debuted on the new BMW i3 have shown that it is equally highly effective when applied to vehicles powered by combustion engines, whether front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, allowing all of them to offer greater safety and driving pleasure when road conditions make it difficult to control the vehicle.

For this reason, the German manufacturer has decided to fit the innovative i3 traction control system to all of its future models from both the BMW and Mini brands, in order to further optimise traction, stability and handling.

The new i3s traction control system performs its control routines 50 times faster. This new traction control system was first presented on the new BMW i3s and is one of the key elements that, together with the greater power output of its motor, has increased the sense of driving pleasure, thanks, among other things, to being specifically calibrated for the high instantaneous power delivery of the BMW eDrive system.

Unlike other conventional stability and control systems, the new system that BMW has introduced on the new i3s performs its control routines 50 times faster, since the entire control process is now calculated directly in the car’s drivetrain rather than in a remote unit that requires long signal transmission paths through the vehicle’s electrical systems.

“With their high torque levels and instant response to every movement of the accelerator, electric motors already place significantly greater demands on driving stability systems than conventional powertrains,” explains Peter Langen, Head of Chassis Development at BMW.

This allows the new i3s system to improve both traction and driving stability when adverse weather and road conditions make progress difficult, as well as during the active phases of Brake Energy Regeneration or acceleration through tight bends. This development once again makes the small German electric model a true technological pioneer within the BMW Group.

This was the reason why the brand’s engineers created a new system initially designed to directly meet the new demands of electric mobility and which, now that it has been tested on other models in the brand’s range, has led BMW to decide to incorporate the new traction control system presented on the i3s across all future models that both BMW and Mini launch onto the market.