Electric motor switches are becoming surprisingly popular, with car enthusiasts switching from old cars to internal combustion engines (ICEs) and replacing them with electric motors from wrecked or otherwise total EVs. The Tesla Motor Swap EV is becoming the LS swap of the world. The EV swap is becoming so popular that Ford has decided to sell its Mustang Mach-E electric motor as a crate motor, similar to what it did with its V8. Should BMW do the same with its new iDrive motors?
What Ford is doing is pretty neat. Just as it sells its Mustang V8 engine as a crate engine (meaning it is a basic engine that literally comes in a crate) that can fit your skills / budget into any car, it is now selling its “Illuminator” performance electric Mustang Mach. Motor from E. The illuminator can be used in any of your applications and is often used to get older, classic ICE cars.
As soon as Ford’s Illuminator went on sale, electric hot-radars were snatching faster than you could call kilowatt-hours. With a price tag of $ 4,095, it is now back on sale BMW is actually in a position to offer more attractive EV crate motors to compete.
BMW’s new fifth-gen Drive electric drive unit is a more comprehensive package than Ford’s. The Illuminator still requires several bits and bobs to work, such as an inverter and electronics. However, BMW’s drive unit is more extensive, with all the necessary system electronics and even transmission directly built into it. Which makes it much more plug-and-play than Ford’s Illuminator (although Ford’s name is much cooler than the “Fifth-Zen Drive Electric Drive Unit”).
If BMW offers this new drive unit as a crate motor, Bavarian enthusiasts could switch to the classic beacon of their choice. Want an EV BMW 2002? Sure. How about an EV BMW 2800 CS? Absolutely. Want to be apostate and swap an E30 M3 EV? If you can afford it, go for it.
Of course, this is not so easy. You still need to find a battery pack, figure out how to retro-fit the battery pack on an old chassis / body, and then work it together. So it’s much more complicated than just dropping an EV motor. However, with crate motors, it becomes much easier than trying to use a crashed motor and BMW can offer it absolutely, just like Ford does.