BMW unveils mega-electrification plan
The German carmaker will offer no less than five fully-electric production vehicles by the end of 2021.
On Monday, BMW group set out its strategy regarding a sweeping product overhaul meant to lower vehicle emissions both during production and on the road.
According to a press release by the carmarker, “In ten years, the goal is to have a total of more than seven million electrified BMW Group vehicles on the roads, around two thirds of them with a fully-electric drive train.”
Starting next year, BMW will offer five fully-electric cars: the BMW i3, the MINI Cooper SE, the BMW iX3, the BMW iNEXT and the BMW i4.
By 2023, BMW will have, in total, 25 electrified models on the roads by 2023, half of them fully electric.
A cut in carbon dioxide emissions has been ordered by the European Union in December 2018. Brussels decided stricter emissions regulations, namely a cut in carbon dioxide emissions from cars by 37.5 by 2030 compared to 2021 levels. Therefore, automakers are pushed to produce more electric vehicles.
BMW signed a deal with Northvolt (Sweden)
As it ramps up electric-car production recently, the German carmaker signed a 2 billion euros battery order with Northvolt, a Swedish company renowed worldwide for its green battery cells. Batteries will be manufactured at a factory currently under construction Skelleftea, Sweden, which will use hundred per cent renewable energy, according to a BMW press release.
BMW already have contracts for batteries with longtime suppliers Samsung SDI of South Korea and China’s CATL. Although both of those suppliers have factories in Europe, the main idea is to have more purely European car parts as the COVID-19 pandemic shows that if a company is too dependent on Chinese goods it may have fatal problems in crisis times.
