BMW has unveiled the BMW i4 M50 as the first fully electric vehicle from its line-up to be tasked as the official safety car for the FIM Enel MotoE World Cup, and will premiere August 15 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. This takes over safety car duties from the BMW i8 in the motorcycle racing series, and which as also the safety car for Formula E in 2014.
The i4 M50 Safety Car carries over the i4 M50’s setup of a duo of electric motors – one on each axle – for a total system output of 544 hp and 795 Nm of torque sent to all four wheels. Exterior changes to all-electric four-door coupé are bright green graphics applied over a grey exterior base paint finish, while the grille inserts, side intake inserts and rear diffuser panels are also finished in bright green.
The base vehicle is the first fully electric vehicle to emerge from BMW M, and is positioned as the zero-emissions sibling to the M440i, and thus the i4 M50 is positioned above the regular i4 eDrive40.
In series-production guise, the i4 M50 packs an 83.9 kWh battery that offers up to 510 km of range on the WLTP cycle, and can be charged at a rate of up to 200 kW via a DC CCS Combo 2 connection that yields 140 km of additional range from a 10-minute charge. From its 11 kW integrated AC charger with a Type 2 connection, charging from 0% to 100% will take just under 8.5 hours, according to BMW.
Distinguishing the M50 variant are adaptive M dampers with uprated springs, self-levelling rear air suspension, near-actuator wheel slip limiter, custom anti-roll bars and an additional spring strut tower brace, variable sport steering, M sport brakes and wheels ranging from 18 to 20 inches in diameter.
All i4 variants including the M50 get an acoustic pedestrian protection system as standard which warns pedestrians of its presence by emitting artificially generated sounds through exterior speakers. This is activated when driving below 21 km/h in Europe, or 31 km/h in the United States.
Meanwhile, the safety car fleet for the 2021 MotoGP season is comprised of the G80 M3, G82 M4 and the F90 M5 CS, as well as the BMW Motorrad M 1000 RR Safety Bike, along with the BMW M8 Competition Coupe Safety Car, the F93 M8 Competition Gran Coupe Safety Car, an F95 X5 M Medical Car and an additional M 1000 RR Safety Bike from April.
GALLERY: BMW i4 M50
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