BMW promises its Neue Klasse electric vehicles will have 30% more range and 30% faster charging. How? BMW revealed its new “Heart of Joy,” an advanced control unit that will serve as the brain for its upcoming EV models. For the first time, BMW showcased the new tech in its Vision Driving Experience Vehicle. Check it out below.
How BMW’s Heart of Joy ECU will boost EV range
“The Heart of Joy enables us to take driving pleasure not just to the next level, but another one beyond that,” according to BMW’s development boss, Frank Weber.
For the first time, BMW’s new ECU combines the drivetrain and driving dynamics in a small black box. The unit, which controls acceleration, braking, vehicle stabilization, steering functions, and charging, is “ten times faster” than its previous system.
BMW developed the Heart of Joy ECU entirely in-house. It’s designed to work in tandem with its Dynamic Performance Control software.
The tech stack enables quicker response times with minimal lag. BMW says the “latencies are in the millisecond range.” The vehicle features improved traction and control with fewer inputs, enabling a more intuitive drive.
BMW developed the Heart of Joy ECU 100% in-house. It features four “super brains” or high-performance computers fused into a single unit.
Another three super brains are included for automated and highly automated driving, infotainment, and other basic functions like climate control, lighting, and vehicle access.
With integrated drivetrain, braking, and energy recuperation, BMW claims the system boosts efficiency by up to 25%. Weber explained that “we are further increasing efficiency, and therefore boosting range, as in future the driver will brake almost exclusively using energy regeneration.”
Top comment by Aigars Mahinovs
This is what you get when you take engineers that love driving and give them both time and resources to develop something truly amazing. This quite amazing work for the whole new generation of cars. It improves efficiency as it allows deceleration with regen with even more power and down to even lower speeds. It improves usability as the transition from driving to regen to braking to parking brake becomes imprerceptible - no more sudden "siezing up" of the car during slow maneuvers, especially uphill or downhill. And then there is the whole milisecond stability thing that can just save your life when the car hits a patch of black ice with one wheel in a turn.
Most people will not race their BMWs, but the benefits made on the track become just as important in everyday life and give you confidence and thus joy of driving.
BMW showcased how it works by illuminating color codes in the Vision Vehicle’s rims. When green, the vehicle is accelerating, while blue indicates energy recuperation. Orange means the friction brakes are in use.
The control system can also handle “an explosion of power.” BMW showcased the new unit in its Vision Driving Experience test vehicle to prove how it works. The Vision Vehicle develops 18,000 Newton meters (13,269 lb-ft) of torque.
The BMW Vision test vehicle will officially debut at Auto Shanghai 2025, starting on April 25. Check back for more info leading up to its debut.
BMW claims the Vision is just a test vehicle for drivetrain and driving dynamics explicitly developed for its Neue Klasse EV models. It will not go into series production. The first model from BMW’s Neue Klasse EV lineup will go into series production later this year at its Plant Debrecen in Hungary.
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