BMW

The latest in BMW’s series of confusingly-named concepts is here: the four-door i Vision Dynamics, unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show earlier today.  Earlier this week BMW updated its plans announcing that they will electrify 25 models and offer 12 fully-electric models by 2025.  Since then, this concept is the first unveiling of what one of those all-electric models might look like.

It has long been expected that BMW will make an “i5” model, something able to round out their “i” sub-brand product offerings with a price point inbetween the i3 compact car and i8 sportscar, possibly available in 2020 as a 2021 model to compete more directly against Tesla’s offerings in the four-door sedan space.  This seems to be the manifestation of that rumor, though it has not been given the expected “letter+number” moniker as of yet.

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On the new all-electric vehicle front, BMW had nothing to offer since launching the i3 almost 5 years ago and they are not expected to have a new EV built from the ground up to be electric until 2019.

The impressive gap raised doubts about BMW’s commitment to all-electric cars, but now the German automaker updates its EV plans with more all-electric models and mass production.
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Ahead of the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, BMW unveiled the design concept of the Mini Electric that will be debuting at the show.

The concept vehicle is setting the tone for the first all-electric Mini production vehicle, which BMW plans to produce in 2019.
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This week, BMW unveiled the 2018 version of its flagship all-electric vehicle, the BMW i3.

Unless you are a true fan of the i3 program, you probably won’t see anything major with this new version, which doesn’t feature any significant powertrain upgrade, but there are a few new nice changes. 
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BMW is about to unveil its new roadster version of its BMW i8 plug-in hybrid and today it released new teaser images of the vehicle and preliminary energy consumption figures.
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As part of its electrification plans, BMW made a few announcements today. Mainly, they announced that their new car architecture will enable “electrification of every model series.”

They also elaborated on their plan to manufacture their next all-electric vehicle, the Mini 3-door. 
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The first few seasons of the all-electric Formula E championship have been more successful than most motorsport fans would have ever predicted.

Over the past few months, it managed to convince Audi and BMW to take spots for future seasons and this week, Mercedes-Benz has now announced that it will have its own team.

While all those premium automakers are joining the Formula E, Tesla has been surprisingly staying away from the all-electric championship despite being a leader in the development and commercialization of EVs.
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On the new electric vehicle front, BMW had nothing to offer since launching the i3 and i8 almost 5 years ago and they are not expected to have a new EV built from the ground up to be electric until the end of the decade.

But they could be releasing updated versions of their current EVs in order to compete with new longer range electric cars coming to market.
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After Zero Motorcycles’ e-bike powertrains being used to power electric jetskis, now BMW’s i3 battery packs are powering electric boats.

The German automaker confirmed today a deal with Torqeedo, a German boat manufacturer, to use their battery pack in a new electric boat powertrains.
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BMW is planning a new roadster version of its BMW i8 plug-in hybrid next year and today it released the first teaser images of the vehicle.
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While BMW’s electric car plans have long been confusing, the German has been positioning itself for moving more seriously in the electric vehicle space lately. The company started holding meetings to warn employees that EVS are coming and here to stay and they announced production expansion for their upcoming electric vehicles.

Now a long-rumored all-electric (not its half hearted 330E) version of its popular BMW 3 Series is reportedly going to be unveiled in September.
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Over the past few months, Tesla’s valuation surged past Ford and GM but following another surge over the past 2 weeks, Tesla’s market capitalization is now worth more than BMW’s.

It is now the 4th most valuable car company in the world.

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BMW has unveiled yet another electric vehicle concept as part of its Vision Next 100 series, but this time for BMW Motorrad.

The scooter-like concept is called ‘The BMW Motorrad Concept Link’ and it is supposed to represent BMW’s vision for the future of electric transport on two wheels.
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In the race to develop self-driving cars, companies are racing to make partnerships and acquisitions in order to increase their chances.

BMW, which had already partnered with Intel and Mobileye (before Intel actually acquired Mobileye), is now partnering with Delphi, another major player in the self-driving field.
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“Charging is optional, thrilling is not.” it says on the BMW iPerformance website. A bold statement but one that is unfortunately true. The regenerative brakes charge the battery, so you don’t necessarily have to charge it, and the 330e is indeed a thrilling ride. However there are so many questions: Is the 330e still the Ultimate Driving Machine? Did BMW successfully bridge the gap between a sports sedan with an internal combustion engine and an electric vehicle? Can it drive like an EV in urban environments and still provide a thrilling drive on backroads while being somewhat frugal on gas? Is the BMW 330e the ultimate hybrid or an overpriced Prius on steroids?

Keep reading and find out our conclusion after putting this car through its paces.
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BMW has been using DriveNow, its car-sharing program, to deploy large numbers of electric vehicles quickly. They delivered 400 BMW i3 EVs in Copenhagen back in 2015.

The German automaker announced this week that it will deploy 550 electric vehicles, 400 all-electric cars and 150 plug-in hybrids, across the city of Hamburg in Germany by 2019.
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BMW has been positioning itself for moving more seriously in the electric vehicle space lately. The company started holding meetings to warn employees that EVS are coming and here to stay and they announced production expansion for its upcoming electric vehicles.

During their earning for the first quarter 2017, BMW CEO Harald Krüger said that they see momentum for its EV sales and highlighted that BMW i3 deliveries grew 50% in 2017.
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The best way to know if a legacy automaker is getting serious about electric vehicles is to see if they are investing in converting their current manufacturing capacity to electric vehicle manufacturing capacity. We recently reported on Daimler and Volkswagen making the move in Germany and BMW now announces that it is following suit.

Today, the automaker confirmed that it will build the first fully electric MINI in 2019 and a fully electric BMW X3 in 2020 at its Leipzig plant, while the upcoming “fully electric BMW iNEXT” will be manufactured at the Dingolfing plant in 2021.
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Elon Musk wanted Tesla to create a sense of urgency for other automakers to move faster on electric vehicles and accelerate the overall transition to sustainable transport. It helped for some, but others still don’t take Tesla or EVs seriously.

It’s certainly not the case for BMW anymore since the company is now saying that it was under “an electric assault” in reference to Tesla and other automakers working on electric vehicles. The German automaker seems now more inclined to move into the electric vehicle space.
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BMW of North America and the US National Parks Services had a lovely event at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, site of Edison’s West Orange, N.J., laboratory and home yesterday and Electrek was on the scene. The event was the announcement that BMW would be partnering with the National Park Foundation, National Park Service and Department of Energy to bring 100 EV charging stations to National Parks like this one. BMW will also be footing the electric bill for the first 6 months of use, making it free for customers. I have just one little complaint…
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