BMW: low demand for e-cars

Author: Duran Sarikaya
Date: 02.07.2019

Electric cars unpopular in Europe

According to the BMW board, electric cars are not too popular with European consumers. This was the thought of development director Klaus Fröhlich after BMW boss Harald Krüger announced that he wanted to expand the electrification of the model range more quickly.

He informed journalists that consumers, with the exception of a few regions, have no interest in battery electric vehicles (BEVs). According to this, diesel- engines will remain on the market for about 20 years. In the case of petrol engines, it will even be 30 years.

Furthermore, electric cars would be popular in regions where there are government subsidies and requirements for the purchase of alternative vehicles. Plug-in hybrids are more popular: in California and the Chinese metropolises Beijing and Shanghai, the proportion of such cars is expected to reach 100 percent in ten years.

In other parts of the world like Russia and the Middle East, Fröhlich considers the emergence of e-cars to be rather low. Here the charging infrastructure is not sufficient.

Increasing prices?

If there are no government subsidies, this could still worsen, Fröhlich assumes. In addition, the rising demand for batteries could push up the prices for necessary materials, which would simultaneously increase the prices for e-cars. That is why electrification is “overhyped”.

About the European market Fröhlich said according to media reports: “There are no consumer inquiries for BEVs. None.” At the moment, one is merely following the wishes of the states and regulatory bodies. However, if there were extensive subsidies, BEVs could be widely distributed throughout Europe.

BMW stated that they intended to launch 25 E-models on the market by 2023. More than half of these will be fully electric (BEV). It was also planned to increase the share of electric vehicles in total sales by 30 percent each year until 2025. This applies to the entire Group and includes, among other things, the Mini.