BMW’S 2WD Hybrid is real

Published: 12 April 2017

2WD GS? It's not as bonkers as it sounds.

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On April Fools’ Day BMW took several scalps with a fake press release presenting an xDrive Hybrid R1200GS, with an electrically-driven front wheel. Of course there’s no such bike – but it looks like something very similar might be in the pipeline.

It’s not clear whether it was a coincidence or part of an elaborate double-bluff, but just days before BMW sent out its dummy press release, a genuine patent application titled ‘Motorcycle with an electrically driveable front wheel’ was published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). It’s owner? BMW.

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It would be unimaginable for the firm to go to the extent of writing and filing a complete patent application simply to bolster a fleeting, one-day joke. Not least because the slow- turning wheels of the patent system mean the document was actually first filed back in September 2015.

BMW patent mirrors the April Fool spoof…

However, the patents mirror the fictional R1200GS xDrive. Where the April Fools’ release claimed the bike used a “wheel-hub e-Drive system which functions both as electric motor and generator”, the patent describes a “drive arrangement integrated into the front wheel [which] comprises an electric motor…”

The idea is simple, and identical to the one dreamt up for the April Fools’ gag. The bike keeps its usual, petrol-powered engine driving the rear wheel and usually works just like a conventional bike. When the rear wheel loses traction, rather than simply activating a traction control system, it engages drive to the front wheel using an electric motor and reduction gear system that’s built into the front hub. The patent even goes as far as suggesting large, touring-style bikes would be ideal candidates for the system. Like the R1200GS.

If it all seems familiar, it’s worth mentioning that a very real 2WD, hybrid-powered R1200GS already exists. It’s the X2 prototype, cooked up by BMW tuners Wunderlich, who have a very close relationship with BMW’s own R&D department. Shown just weeks after the patent was filed in 2015, the X2 uses exactly the system described in the BMW document – right down to having a reverse-gear option for the front motor to help when wheeling the bike around.

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By MCN News

2WD GS? It's not as bonkers as it sounds.