BMW

This year’s Cannes Film Festival saw a unique debut quite a ways away from the silver screen and out on the docks of Southern France. During the event, BMW Group Designworks and boat builder Tyde unveiled a new all-electric boat concept called The Icon. This electric hydrofoil is powered by BMW battery packs and represents a collaboration for the future of sustainability in the marine segment. Did we mention two-time Oscar winner Han Zimmer is involved too?

BMW is now weeks away from the world premiere of an all-electric version of its long-running 5 series and has shared some camouflaged images of the new i5 eDrive40 completing summer testing. BMW also shared some design and performance specs i5 customers can expect to see in the new EV.

BMW’s i7 electric sedan is getting a performance upgrade from the masterminds at BMW M. The up- to-660-horsepower BMW i7 M70 xDrive is setting new internal records as its fastest, most powerful EV model yet.

Despite overall sales slipping 1.5% in the first quarter, the BMW Group sold over 64,000 fully electric vehicles, up over 80% from last year. In an impressive showing, BMW brand EV sales more than doubled (+112.3%) in Q1 and will remain the “main growth driver” this year.

Mini electric bicycles from the BMW brand may be here sooner than you’d think. That’s thanks to a new partnership with the French bicycle manufacturer Angell Mobility.

BMW is already manufacturing its next-generation all-electric Neue Klasse (new class) vehicles two years ahead of the launch of series production – virtually at least. Using NVIDIA’s advanced virtual computing platform, BMW revealed this week it has opened the world’s first entirely virtual factor in the NVIDIA Omniverse to produce its Neue Klasse EVs.

At the BMW Annual conference 2023, the automaker announced further details while giving us a preview of its first fully electric 5 series, the i5 sedan launching in October. CEO Oliver Zipse added that “a fully electric performance model” from BMW M gmbH will be included in the lineup.

You read that right. Poop. Manure. Cow pies. US Dairy farming remains a massive contributor of greenhouse gas methane emitted by its endless lanes of cattle providing milk to the public. California in particular currently sits at as the US dairy farming mecca, but also accounts for nearly half of the methane emissions in the entire state. New recycling methods have been put into place and automakers like BMW have utilized their carbon offsets to power its EVs, but many argue this is greenwashing and the entire incentive program encourages more emissions, not less.

BMW is accelerating its electric vehicle production plans, announcing an € 800 million (about $864 million) investment to prepare its San Luis Potosí plant in Mexico for the incoming wave of next-generation Neue Klasse EVs.

Italian legacy automaker Alfa Romeo recently outlined details of its upcoming all-electric segment in which its CEO said it intends to bolster sales in North America, expressing the need to “transfer the concept of performance” to its EVs. To do so, however, Alfa Romeo believes it needs something bigger and all-electric to attract US consumers, stating that it’s working on an SUV to compete with the BMW X5.

Climate activists across three different social awareness groups have banded together to post over 400 irreverent billboards across Europe, using subvertising tactics to expose automakers like Toyota and BMW for promoting zero-carbon BEVs while simultaneously lobbying to keep combustion vehicles on roads for decades to come. The goal of these billboards is to not only spotlight the harsh truth, but to call local governments into action to ban ads that promote combustion vehicles.

After previewing some of the technology on its “Neue Klasse” EV platform at CES last week, BMW’s CEO Oliver Zipse is not mixing words when speaking about the German automaker’s future in the EV market. Zipse was as bold to say that BMW’s next wave of EVs will be the industry benchmark in range, charging speeds, and pricing. Forgive us if you’ve heard this one before.

Following a production year riddled with supply chain constraints, chip shortages, and a war in Ukraine, German automakers BMW Group, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen Group still saw significant growth in EV sales. Conversely, combustion vehicle sales continue to drop due to the reasons above, in addition to more and more drivers joining the green side.

This morning, Solid Power announced that long-time investor BMW Group is expanding an existing joint development agreement to license its technology in order to build its own solid-state batteries in Germany. Under the agreement, BMW will gain access to Solid Power’s battery research and development, cell design, and manufacturing expertise to expedite the technology alongside its partner. That being said, Solid Power isn’t licensing all of its technology.

Bumps in the road can be annoying, and if you don’t see them in time, they can do some serious damage. But what if when you drove over a bump, your electric vehicle could harness that energy and convert it to usable electricity? BMW is building a new suspension system designed to do just that.

BMW is not well known for having cost-effective vehicles. However, according to the German luxury automaker’s CEO, Oliver Zipse, BMW will not abandon the lower-priced auto segment as it enters a new electric era.

Despite lingering supply chain bottlenecks disrupting the global auto industry, the BMW Group achieved record revenue in Q3 as sales and demand for its electric vehicles continue propelling the German luxury automaker forward.

After releasing plans to scale EV and battery production in the US, BMW announced Thursday it would also be adding a new battery assembly line and new cell varnishing lines at its plant in Leipzig, Germany. The luxury automaker says the batteries will be used for its fully electric Mini Countryman crossover.

In the latest announcement from an automaker to expand electric vehicle manufacturing in the US, BMW released Wednesday it will invest $1.7 billion in its US EV operations to boost output.

BMW is going to cease all production of electric Minis in the UK and build them in China and Germany instead.

BMW Group has announced a partnership with gaming platform AirConsole to implement “casual” video game options into the curved displays of new BMW vehicles. The games will exist within BMW’s infotainment system and allow drivers and their passengers to use their smartphones as controllers.