By 2030 half of all BMW models will be electric

BMW announces ambitious drive towards electric future

In a recent annual general meeting of the BMW Group in Munich, Germany, the automaker announced its ambitious goals for the reduction of greenhouse gases. They want to reduce their emissions by 200 million tons of CO2 come 2030. This is equivalent to more than 20 times the annual CO2 emissions of a city with over a million inhabitants, like Munich.

To achieve this, BMW will employ a couple of crucial changes to the way they manufacture vehicles, as well as motorcycles, starting from the acquiring of raw materials.

According to BMW, they would prioritize the use of recycled materials such as steel, plastics, and aluminum in the manufacture of vehicles and motorcycles by significantly reducing its resource consumption per vehicle.

Producing high-power batteries for electric vehicles also leaves a very large carbon footprint, as these batteries require energy-intensive manufacturing processes, as well as the requirement of rare earth materials for production. BMW, says that they would now begin using recycled products for the production of their next-gen high-voltage batteries, as well as reducing the use of cobalt and other rare earth materials.

50 percent of global sales fully electric by 2030

Between now and 2025, the BMW Group will increase its sales of fully-electric models by an average of well over 50% per year – more than ten times the number of units sold in 2020. Based on its current market forecast, the company also expects at least 50% of its global sales to come from fully electric vehicles in 2030.

The actual figure may vary significantly from market to market and will ultimately depend to a large extent on how much progress is made in expanding charging infrastructure at the regional level.

At this point, there will no longer be any segment position in the BMW Group’s entire product portfolio where the company does not offer at least one fully electric model. Individual segments may, in fact, be served exclusively by fully electric models. The company will also be capable of handling a much larger percentage of fully electric vehicles if the demand develops accordingly. In total, over the next ten years or so, the BMW Group will release about ten million fully electric vehicles onto the roads.

“A climate-friendly car is not created solely by using green power. We must design our vehicles for sustainability from the very first day of development: reducing the amount of material used to manufacture them and, above all, planning for reuse and recycling from the very beginning. In the face of rising raw material prices, this is not just an environmental, but also a business imperative,” said Oliver Zipse, chairman, BMW AG

Electric GS, anyone?