BMW is one of the automakers pushing for an e-fuel exemption to extend the lifespan of combustion engine tech and also readying hydrogen vehicles for sale by the middle of this decade, but that doesn’t mean it’s rowing back on its commitment to battery power.
Quite the opposite, in fact. The automaker now says it will achieve the goal of 50 percent of sales coming from purely electric vehicles well before the company’s own stated 2030 target. BMW estimates that EVs will account for 15 percent of sales this year, rising to 20 percent in 2024, and 25 percent in 2025, gaining parity with combustion sales “well ahead” of 2030.
That announcement comes only a couple of months after BMW released its sales figures for 2022, numbers that revealed sales of fully-electric BMW and Mini models doubled last year despite production challenges presented in the form of supply restrictions due to a shortage of chips and the war in Ukraine.
Unlike its rival Audi, BMW hasn’t set a time for its BMW-branded vehicles to abandon combustion engines altogether, but it has pledged that Mini and Rolls Royce will become EV-only marques in 2030, five years before an effective ICE ban comes into play in Europe, California, and multiple other states attempting to follow California’s lead.
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Europe’s implementation of zero-emissions regulations for new cars starting in 2035 looked like a done deal but is in danger of being derailed by Germany’s refusal to sign the rule into law unless exemptions are given to e-fuels. Germany and fellow dissenter Italy are worried about the impact a wholesale switch to EVs might have on the auto industries that are major players in both countries’ economies, but Volvo CEO Jim Rowan described moves to weaken the 2035 law with concessions for e-fuels as “a deeply worrying and disappointing development.”
BMW also announced this week that it expects the profit margin in its automotive business to jump from last year’s 7-9 percent to 8-10 percent in 2023, helped by sales of new high-end models like the latest 7-Series sedan.