BMW Says Electric Car Mass Production Not Viable Until 2020 (reuters.com)

BMW will not mass produce electric cars until 2020 because its current technology is not profitable enough to scale up for volume production, the chief executive said on Thursday. From a report: Munich-based BMW unveiled its first battery electric car in 2013, and has been working on different generations of battery, software and electric motor technology since then. The i8 Roadster model, due to hit showrooms in May, is equipped with what BMW calls its fourth-generation electric drive technology. Advances in battery raw materials and chemistry has increased its range by 40 percent over the previous version, BMW said. BMW is working to make electric car technology more modular and scalable to make mass production commercially viable. "We wanted to wait for the fifth generation to be much more cost competitive," Chief Executive Harald Krueger told analysts in Munich. "We do not want to scale up with the fourth generation."

Comments

Re:2020

[tomhath]

I don't recall anyone saying "never". Most agreed that battery technology had a way to go though.

China already doing it

[WillAffleckUW]

Look, BMW just doesn't want to do this, because of profit factors, not because they are not capable of making a profit doing it.

They can convert easily. There are companies in Asia that produce far more all electric vehicles than BMW does, and they converted much more quickly and scaled up.

Re:Engine bay

[stabiesoft]

I think you are missing something. A typical model S sized car runs around 4000-4200 lbs, some much less like the audi and caddy CT6 because they make heavy use of aluminum. The CT6 for example weighs around 3700lbs. The S also makes heavy use of aluminum in the chassis. The S comes in at 4600-4900 lbs, so it is quite a porker even with an aluminum chassis. Batteries are heavy. I also looked up just the battery weight, 1200lbs. A typical V8 performance engine comes in around 500lbs, with V6 and I4's being less of course.

It won't be viable until charge times are down

[mark-t]

Recharging overnight is fine but if you forget to plug your car in overnight, you may not be able to get to work the next morning, whereas if you forget to fill up in last night when you noticed the tank was low, you can at least make a short stop along the way to work today.

Plus, of course, if a person doesn't even live in a place where they have the facilities to charge their car overnight (eg, either a communal parking without any electric outlets or having to park their car in the street in front of their residence), electric cars as they exist today are complete nonviable. While not exactly a majority of the population, the number of people in that position is far too large a slice of the pie to ignore (more than 25% nationwide here in Canada, and in some municipalities, it's as high as 70%).

Did I miss something?

[rsilvergun]

Is it 1980? Because if not 2020 is 2 years away. That's not even a blip in an industry as large as cars. The headline shouldn't be "not viable until 2020" it should be "will be viable by 2020".

BMW i3?

[Geoffrey.landis]

Good thing I didn't buy the BMW i3 electric car I was thinking about getting! Their website tells me it's "the revolution", but here Reuters claims BMW says it's not viable until 2020!

https://www.bmwusa.com/vehicles/bmwi.html

Re:Engine bay

[Rei]

Go find any review from anyone who's driven the Model 3 who says that it "handles like shit", and link it here, please.

Even reviews that want to criticize it for other things generally have to reluctantly admit that the handling is superb. Motor Trend put its handling up against the BMW 330i and it beat the BMW in almost every category tested.