How BMW will expand EV range

BMW Group will launch four full-electric cars in the next two years as the automaker accelerates its shift to electrified models. 

"We are fully committed to electric cars wherever the use of battery-electric drive trains makes sense, and it is possible because the conditions are right," BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said.

Battery-powered versions of the 7-Series upper-premium sedan and X1 compact SUV will arrive next year.

Electric versions of the 5-Series large-premium sedan and Mini Countryman compact SUV will arrive in 2023. 

"By 2023 we will offer our customers at least one BEV option in nearly all our vehicle segments and over the next 10 years we aim to release a total of about 10 million fully electric vehicles onto the market," Zipse told analysts on earnings call on Aug. 3. 

The full-electric 7 Series and 5 Series will be built at BMW's plant in Dingolfing, Germany. 

The factory in also build the iX, BMW's flagship electric SUV, which will arrive in dealerships in the autumn, with the i4 electric sedan, which is produced at the automaker's Munich factory. 

The full-electric version of the X1 and Mini Countryman will also be built in Germany, alongside internal combustion engine version -- the X1 in Regensburg and the Mini Countryman in Leipzig. 

BMW Group's battery-powered cars currently comprise the i3 compact hatchback produced in Leipzig and the China-built iX3 SUV, and the Mini Electric hatchback, built in Mini's factory in Oxford, England.

The iX will debut BMW's new Operating System 8 that the company says is designed for 5G connectivity.

The system has a new generation of displays, controls and software and, after the iX, will be rolled out broadly across all other models, Zipse said.

In 2025 BMW will present its first model on the new Neue Klasse (New Class) platform which is designed to be primarily full-electric but can also accommodate diesel or gasoline engines, including plug-in hybrids.

"Our new vehicle architecture is uncompromisingly electric, whether with battery power or hydrogen," Zipse said. 

The highly flexible and scalable platform is designed to allow more aerodynamic designs with different proportions and more spacious interiors. It will be used for new BMW and Mini models, starting in 2025. The Rolls-Royce brand will continue to use its own scaleable spaceframe aluminum architecture.

"The Neue Klasse comes with a new IT and software architecture, as well as newly developed high-performance electric drive train and battery generation," Zipse said. 

BMW expects sales of its full-electric models to grow by more than 50 percent annually on average by 2025, more than ten times the figure for 2020. 

By the end of 2025, the company expects to have delivered about 2 million full-electric vehicles to customers, with a share of at least 25 percent of total sales by 2025, rising to 10 million and at least half of global deliveries by 2030.