BMW CEO: Electrification of the BMW portfolio is a marathon, not a sprint

[Mark]

BIMMERPOST NEWS

BMW CEO: Electrification of the BMW portfolio is a marathon, not a sprint

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Speaking with Bloomberg News in Santa Monica CA at an event celebrating BMW's centenary, BMW CEO Harold Krueger made several interesting comments about the future of BMW and BMW i.

Mr Krueger identified 3 major drivers or hurdles that help advance adoption of electric vehicles, (1) range, (2) electric infrastructure and (3) pricing. The implication of pointing to these features is that he probably believes the place BMW should be focusing on in the future is in regards to those 3 factors.

He also mentions that Phase 1 for BMW was the creation of BMW i and that now we are entering Phase 2 where the standard BMW portfolio will become electrified as we have seen with the eDrive models joining the X5, 3 series and now 5 series lineups.

Don't forget, even BMW M is now open to electrification, so presumably the entire lineup from top to bottom will see electrification at some point.

Mr Krueger makes the point to say this game is not a sprint but a marathon, so the process of electric adoption will certainly take a long time

Source: Bloomberg News

[thebatman]

Bmw moving towards hybrids and then slowly full electric in next 10 years.
And also....first!!!

[Doctor///M]

Electric turbos FTW!!

[MachinesWithSouls]

If you bought saayyy a new 1995 e36 M3, kept it 20 years, and tomorrow decided to trade it in for a new M3, it would be relatively the same car. By that I mean piston front-engine, RWD, stick shift sedan.

If you kept that F80 for just half the time and traded it in, the M3 you replace it with could very well be none of those things I described. Quite an amazing time we live in.

[raysspl]

Don't tell that to Elon Musk

[Nachbar]

Originally Posted by Doctor///M

Electric turbos FTW!!

This!

[e90-328i]

Will we debate on which P/W or P/H is better? OEM Or aftermarket?
(Performance whine - the noise that electric motors produce as they are rotating
performance hum - the buzzing/humming sound of a strong electrical field)
Lol

[Diver]

Range and infrastructure are serious problems. Actual range is much less than quoted range and most hotels don't have charging facilities which means you have to arrive with enough charge left to get to the next charging facility. Anything other than driving around town and routine commuting is a pain.

[c63er]

Originally Posted by Diver

Range and infrastructure are serious problems. Actual range is much less than quoted range and most hotels don't have charging facilities which means you have to arrive with enough charge left to get to the next charging facility. Anything other than driving around town and routine commuting is a pain.

Agreed. The #1 reason by far people buy tesla is range. Everything else is secondary.

[Diver]

Originally Posted by c63er

Agreed. The #1 reason by far people buy tesla is range. Everything else is secondary.

A friend with a Model S had to stop at a supercharger in Columbus, halfway from Houston to an Austin suburb where he would be at a hotel without a plug. He needed enough charge left to get to San Marcos for another supercharger. It's 180 miles from Houston to the Austin destination.

Rated range is achieved at 60 mph without the air running. About half of the route has 75 mph speed limits with traffic moving at 79 mph. It was sunny with temperatures in the high 90's. A few months later his wife hit a curb and damaged the front suspension. It almost 2 months to get parts.

Meanwhile, Germany is pushing for all zero emission cars by 2030. Progress in improving energy density of current battery technology has been slow. Tesla said it was an enormous task to go from 90 kWh to 100 in the latest souped up version of the D.

What is the owner of a 10 year old electric car supposed to do when the battery is spent?

[c63er]

Originally Posted by Diver

A friend with a Model S had to stop at a supercharger in Columbus, halfway from Houston to an Austin suburb where he would be at a hotel without a plug. He needed enough charge left to get to San Marcos for another supercharger. It's 180 miles from Houston to the Austin destination.

Rated range is achieved at 60 mph without the air running. About half of the route has 75 mph speed limits with traffic moving at 79 mph. It was sunny with temperatures in the high 90's. A few months later his wife hit a curb and damaged the front suspension. It almost 2 months to get parts.

Meanwhile, Germany is pushing for all zero emission cars by 2030. Progress in improving energy density of current battery technology has been slow. Tesla said it was an enormous task to go from 90 kWh to 100 in the latest souped up version of the D.

What is the owner of a 10 year old electric car supposed to do when the battery is spent?

I should clarify. They chose tesla over OTHER electric cars because of range. Tesla is the king of electric cars because of range.

Trying to compare electric range to gasoline range is still a losing battle in 2016.

[MightyMouseTech]

Go full electric or stay gas, hybrids carrying around two separate power systems is silly.

[-c-]

Originally Posted by Diver

A friend with a Model S had to stop at a supercharger in Columbus, halfway from Houston to an Austin suburb where he would be at a hotel without a plug. He needed enough charge left to get to San Marcos for another supercharger. It's 180 miles from Houston to the Austin destination.

Rated range is achieved at 60 mph without the air running. About half of the route has 75 mph speed limits with traffic moving at 79 mph. It was sunny with temperatures in the high 90's. A few months later his wife hit a curb and damaged the front suspension. It almost 2 months to get parts.

Meanwhile, Germany is pushing for all zero emission cars by 2030. Progress in improving energy density of current battery technology has been slow. Tesla said it was an enormous task to go from 90 kWh to 100 in the latest souped up version of the D.

What is the owner of a 10 year old electric car supposed to do when the battery is spent?

Depends on what battery tech you speak of.

A Prius has a 10 year life on battery packs where the i3 has a 20 year life span on batteries.


Also note that the 20 year span on the i3 batteries means the charge has finally hit minimum of 75%.

So in 20 years you can still drive but your batteries will only hold 75% charge if that bothers you, theirs the option to upgrade the batteries for more mileage which will cost you for the i3 anywhere from 5 to 8k dollars with their battery upgrade program. Also batteries may be cheaper then as the tech becomes cheaper so who knows.

A well maintained battery can last a very long time, these are not your common lead acid batteries that start your car.

If the 5k to 8k scares you, it shouldn't, I have already spent that this year on maintenance in our X5 to keep it running in tip top shape.

Overall the i3 is so far the cheapest BMW I have ever had in terms of maintenance costs. Only thing you have to do is the brake fluid flush every other year.

[ORIGIN M.]

You do not buy Electric cars, you lease them.

In 10 years there will be many cheap battery options regardless.

Originally Posted by Diver

...What is the owner of a 10 year old electric car supposed to do when the battery is spent?

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by red-sauerkraut

You do not buy Electric cars, you lease them.

In 10 years there will be many cheap battery options regardless.

This. Think about where battery tech was in 2006. The second-gen Prius that blew the lid off the commercial viability of hybrids was only two years old. Honda was still making the first-gen two-seat Insight with the rear-wheel well covers (an SO of mine bought one; first thing she did was have me upgrade the stereo on it for her. Fun little car, though meggggaslloooooowwww). Smartphones were just becoming a thing, and battery life SUCKED. Many laptops still had heavy-ass detachable rechargeable packs and Bat Phone-sized charger warts. Many rechargeable consumer appliances we take for granted now simply weren't around.

And it all was expensive.

In 10 years, batteries will be cheaper, lighter, less bulky, more efficient, and -- and I feel this is the kicker -- far more easily replaced. The problem isn't going to be the engineering or the cost. The problem will become the environmental impact of making all of them.

[Diver]

Originally Posted by -c-

Depends on what battery tech you speak of.

A Prius has a 10 year life on battery packs where the i3 has a 20 year life span on batteries.


Also note that the 20 year span on the i3 batteries means the charge has finally hit minimum of 75%.

So in 20 years you can still drive but your batteries will only hold 75% charge if that bothers you, theirs the option to upgrade the batteries for more mileage which will cost you for the i3 anywhere from 5 to 8k dollars with their battery upgrade program. Also batteries may be cheaper then as the tech becomes cheaper so who knows.

A well maintained battery can last a very long time, these are not your common lead acid batteries that start your car.

If the 5k to 8k scares you, it shouldn't, I have already spent that this year on maintenance in our X5 to keep it running in tip top shape.

Overall the i3 is so far the cheapest BMW I have ever had in terms of maintenance costs. Only thing you have to do is the brake fluid flush every other year.

20 years is impressive and should solve the battery replacement problem.

[Diver]

Originally Posted by Viffermike

In 10 years, batteries will be cheaper, lighter, less bulky, more efficient, and -- and I feel this is the kicker -- far more easily replaced. The problem isn't going to be the engineering or the cost. The problem will become the environmental impact of making all of them.

This is what policy makers believe, but over the last 5 years progress has been very slow.

[Imola.ZHP]

Originally Posted by Diver

What is the owner of a 10 year old electric car supposed to do when the battery is spent?

They put a new battery in the car for a fraction of the cost of the original battery and for once, ever, increase the value of their EV by doing so.

Also, your friend doesn't sound like the typical Tesla owner.

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Go full electric or stay gas, hybrids carrying around two separate power systems is silly.

I thought the same for a few months until I realized people hate change so much that they will require hybrid before going full BEV. What does it matter? As long as they eventually get to full BEV, that is all that matters.

-----

I love my i3, never thought I would give up my 6MT RWD e46 ZHP, but I watched the i3 from concept to production, took a drive in one when they toured US dealerships, and then took one home for an extended test drive (weekend) several months later. I hesitated due to price but when BMW started inflating residuals to move them, I sold the ZHP and jumped at the chance. I jumped to early, many got even better deals than I did. Some are driving $55k MSRP cars for $350/month, nuts! I really want to drive an x1 PHEV, I don't understand why it hasn't been announced/released in the US yet. I might just stick with the i3 for now. Get one with the REx, code it to work like the euro cars and range anxiety completely goes away.

[tonyzale]

Originally Posted by MightyMouseTech

Go full electric or stay gas, hybrids carrying around two separate power systems is silly.

You need to drive one. Go by your local BMW dealer and try the 330e. Plug in hybrids are the future. All electric are not (in our lifetime).

[ORIGIN M.]

Not sure how old you are, but you can stop telling your stories...

Electric is the future...!

Originally Posted by tonyzale

...Plug in hybrids are the future. All electric are not (in our lifetime).

[tonyzale]

Originally Posted by red-sauerkraut

Not sure how old you are, but you can stop telling your stories...

Electric is the future...!

How would you describe it? Tell us your story...

[ORIGIN M.]

My story is you already did that Tony.

Originally Posted by tonyzale

How would you describe it? Tell us your story...