Santiago. The new Qualcomm Safety Car BMW i8 Coupé celebrated
its debut on Thursday in the Chilean capital Santiago (CHI). The car
will feature from the fourth race in the ABB FIA Formula E
Championship, which will take place on Saturday. BMW i has been
“Official Vehicle Partner” since the first Formula E season and is
now on track with the next generation of the Qualcomm Safety Car BMW
i8 Coupé, boasting a range of technical advances.
BMW works drivers António Félix da Costa (POR) and Tom Blomqvist
(GBR), Alejandro Agag, founder and CEO of ABB FIA Formula E
Championship, MSAD Andretti Formula E Team Principals Roger
Griffiths and JF Thormann and Bruno Correira (POR), official Safety
Car driver, all attended the presentation. “I am delighted to be here
in Santiago to attend the reveal of the latest BMW i8, the Qualcomm
Safety Car for the electric street racing series,“ said Agag. “On
Saturday, we will celebrate the first edition of the Antofagasta
Minerals Santiago E-Prix. When we first started Formula E, many people
said that this series would not have a future. BMW was amongst the
first who opened its doors and believed in our championship. Ever
since the very first race in 2014, the Qualcomm Safety Car has sat
proudly at the front of the grid.”
Correira said: “Thank you to BMW i for bringing such a great livery
on my new Safety Car. The new seats and the roll bar make the new car
a little bit lighter than the old one. The performance and the size of
the battery have been increased. All in all driving the car is great fun.”
The new flagship of the BMW i car fleet for the ABB FIA Formula E
Championship makes use of the “Qualcomm Halo Prototype Technology”
inductive charging system. The system uses no cable connections and
charges this special BMW i8 Coupé (combined fuel consumption: 1.9
l/100 km; combined energy consumption: 14.0 kWh/100 km; combined CO2
emissions: 42 g/km)* up to 80 per cent in just one hour, with a
performance of 7.2 kilowatts. To do so, the Safety Car drives over a
special bottom plate, which immediately initialises the wireless
charging procedure. This saves time and effort, which can be vitally
important during races on a Formula E weekend.
It is not just the inductive charging system that makes the Qualcomm
Safety Car BMW i8 Coupé different to the production car. Other areas
include a roll bar, rear wing and rear hatch made of carbon fibre, a
front splitter, sports seats from the BMW M4 GTS (combined
consumption: 8.5 l/100 km; combined CO2 emissions: 199 g/km)*, 4-point
belt, a roof-mounted signal light system, BMW M carbon ceramic brakes
and a sports chassis.
Alongside the BMW i8 Coupé, the new BMW i3s (combined fuel
consumption: 0.0 l/100 km; combined energy consumption: 14.3 kWh/100
km; combined CO2 emissions: 0 g/km)* as “Medical Car” and “Race
Director Car”, and the BMW X5 xDrive40e (combined fuel consumption:
3.4 to 3.3 l/100 km; combined energy consumption: 15.4 to 15.3 kWh/100
km; combined CO2 emissions: 78 – 77 g/km)* as “Rescue Car” are part of
the BMW i car fleet in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship.
* The fuel consumption and CO2 emissions figures shown were
determined according to the European Regulation (EC) 715/2007 in the
version applicable at the time of type approval. The figures refer to
a vehicle with basic configuration in Germany and the range shown
considers the different size of the selected wheels and tires.
The CO2 efficiency specifications are determined according to
Directive 1999/94/EC and the Pkw-EnVKV, and based (for classification)
on the fuel consumption and CO2 values as per the NEDC cycle.