- BMW M is documenting its battery-electric journey in a YouTube series called BMW M Electrified.
- As with the previous episode, BMW M takes you behind the company’s curtain to show off some of its development vehicles, including the to-be M3 EV.
- BMW M started working on battery-electric performance cars as early as 2018 with this M2 test mule.
Test mules are fascinating—the skin of a production car draped over sometimes half-baked and always high-cost development parts. If you live near a major automaker’s headquarters or test site, you’ve probably seen a test mule and didn’t even bat an eye. However, this BMW M2 test bed might have piqued your interest if you saw it quietly moving through traffic.
In the second episode of its YouTube series, BMW M Electrified, the brand showed off more of its upcoming EV sports-sedan tester. The episode picks up where the last left off, and it turns out the board of directors likes the engineering team’s work—not a huge surprise to see from a brand’s official video series.
For Sale Near You
See all results for used 2018 BMW M2 for sale near 60323
What is surprising is that the company shows off some of its older work, namely an EV-swapped M2. This car was used to test vehicle dynamics and the battery-electric powertrain. According to Michael Sailer, functional development BMW M driving dynamics, this test bed earned the nickname the “Beast.”
As we see in the video above, Sailer outlines that the Beast wasn’t exactly refined. He says it lacked calmness and describes it as “really hard to control.” He peels the curtain back further and explains that this project started with a small team back in 2018.
You can check out the episode in its entirety above, and you can click here to check out the previous episode.
