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FRANKFURT, Germany – German automaker BMW said last week that it intends to accelerate the rollout of new electric cars, promising to bring battery-powered models to 50% of global sales by 2030. The company underlined this point by unveiling a new whole. electric model three months ahead of the plan.
BMW, however, refused to follow General Motors and other automakers who have said their goal is to phase out internal combustion passenger vehicles by a specific date. Instead, the Munich-based automaker said it would adjust the production of battery-powered, hybrid and efficient internal combustion engines as different parts of the world embrace electric driving at different rates.
CEO Oliver Zipse told the company’s annual press conference that electrification is happening at “higher speed.” He said BMW will sell its millionth electrified vehicle this year and sell another million by 2025. Zipse said the company is working on a new all-electric frame for its electric car lineup starting in 2025.
Still, in an online conference call with reporters, he said there was “no end date” for the development and sale of new vehicles with internal combustion engines. He said it was unlikely that all markets around the world would switch to electric only at the same time and that the company planned to sell cars with conventional engines in its 140 markets “as long as customers were ready to go. pay for these products “.
In particular, he said BMW’s plug-in hybrids “are here to stay for a while” despite recent criticism of the technology from environmentalists that some owners rely primarily on the diesel or gasoline engine. These hybrids have the advantage of being able to run emissions-free – and may be eligible for government incentives – but have the conventional engine in case there is no room to recharge. Hybrids also offer the quick acceleration and quietness that comes with an electric motor.
Zipse cited the “sheer pleasure of driving” of hybrids as one of the reasons he believes their future is “just beginning”.
BMW took the opportunity to unveil the production version of the i4, a battery-powered vehicle with four doors and a sloping roofline dubbed a “gran coupe” by the company. The car will join three existing electrics – the sport utility i3, Mini SE and iX3 – and a fifth, the iX, is also slated for release this year.
Zipse warned that the speed of adoption of battery-only cars would depend on the deployment of more charging infrastructure.
GM said it hopes to phase out gasoline and diesel vehicles by 2035. Volvo Cars, owned by Chinese Zhejiang Geely Holding, has announced plans to sell only electric vehicles by 2030, and Jaguar Land Rover says its Jaguar brand will be fully electric by 2025.
While government regulations force automakers to sell more electricity in the European Union and China, adoption has been slower in the United States. BMW expects parts of the United States to continue to favor larger internal combustion vehicles for some time.
The EU is demanding automakers to meet lower limits on average emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed by scientists for global warming. The new lower limit of 95 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer came into effect earlier this year.
Since battery-only cars are rated for zero emissions, automakers have turned to them to lower their fleet averages. This led to an increase in electricity sales at the end of 2020; in December, nearly one in four cars sold in Europe was either battery-only or plug-in hybrid.
BMW also offered the possibility of building cars using hydrogen fuel cells instead of batteries.
BMW has also indicated that it will not follow its competitor Volkswagen in building a network of battery factories, but rather intends to work closely with partners to provide the batteries it needs. . Volkswagen recently announced that it will build a network of six large battery factories in Europe, building on its two existing facilities in Germany and Sweden.
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