Just like everything else on our cars, the nice, simple BMW Ignition Coil has morphed into a high-tech wonder of science lately. Of course, given the cool electromagnetic properties that even the most basic coil operates under, they’ve always been kind of high-tech. With distributorless ignition systems and coil-on-plug ignition becoming ever more common, though, the days of the single black ignition coil sitting beside the distributor are fast coming to an end.

Basically, an ignition coil converts low-voltage, high-current electricity from the battery into high-voltage, low-current electricity that your spark plugs can use to create a spark. The coil sits there building up its charge until the distributor tells it to fire, at which point it zaps out the electricity and begins building up a charge for the next plug. Oh, and it does that hundreds of times a second for tens of thousands of miles without fail. That alone makes your BMW ignition coil pretty darn amazing.