NASDAQ:
German luxury car giant Bayerische Motoren Werke AG or BMW Group is looking to go all-electric over the next 10 years due to the upcoming stricter carbon emission laws. Virtually every BMW model would be converted to electric drivetrains, including range-extending engines and plug-in hybrids.
The transition will see even the company’s top-selling 3 Series sport sedans turned into plug-in hybrids.
The company is weary of the stringent European Union regulations that greatly reduce the average carbon emissions permitted from road vehicles. They are said to be tougher than either North American or Chinese emission levels.
Some are calling this the “death of the internal combustion engine”. That is unlikely to happen any time soon but electric is the future. BMW is just getting out ahead of it.
As much as I would want this to be true (the whole BMW getting ahead of it), the reality is that they’re just putting a spin on the fact that the EU is doing something right in forcing the car makers to get with the programme.
For years these companies have been lobbying to slow the pace of reducing carbon emission levels, dragging their heels on the development of electric cars and efficient electric engines.
Not one German car manufacturer has made serious efforts to take part in this market over the last 10 years, they’re too proud of their heritage of amazing combustion engines.
Glad to hear that BMW is getting ahead of the curve.
BMW getting out ahead of it or should we give credit where it’s truly due here – the EU?
“As much as I would want this to be true …”
It is true. And it sounds like you want it to not be true. Just look at the hybrid i8 and all-electric i3 and the billions BMW has spent on their “i” division with green manufacturing facilities and advanced electric drive. Then tell me you “want this to be true” again.
“… they’re just putting a spin on the fact …”
You’re the one putting a spin on the news. So go ahead. Tell us what your agenda is. We’re all ears.
Some people are hanging on to the buggy whips, are they not? 🙂
You’re cute 🙂
I don’t have an agenda, I’m just disappointed with German car manufacturers.
With all their resources and expertise, the few good electric or hybrid cars they’ve put out, count for nothing more than feasibility studies given the scale of the roll-outs.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/mar/14/car-manufacturers-manipulating-fuel-efficiency-tests
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24532284
And an older German report:
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/auto/deutschland-hinkt-bei-der-entwicklung-von-elektroautos-hinterher-unter-schwachstrom-1.1388898
Hey I get that.. hoping Apple disrupts the hell out of ’em 🙂
some super (> $150K USD) and hyper cars ( > $500K USD) are using electric power and motors to help increase their crazy speed, acceleration and (maybe?) handling … though they typically have a very limited range of electric only power (sometimes around 12 miles) – it is interesting to see this “hybrid” power “weaponized”!
Is the EU ahead or is Tesla building a platform?
Those petro dollar people are probably the craziest.
Maybe some day the government would really encourage the energy companies to get out of the fossil era?
wow – this is interesting –
from: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/mar/14/car-manufacturers-manipulating-fuel-efficiency-tests
–start quote ** “By creative interpretation of the test procedures carmakers are able to achieve multiple small improvements that lower the test results,” the report said. It added: “The current procedure also inexplicably allows the CO2 results declared by the manufacturer to be up to 4% below the measured results.” The WFHVR, based in Switzerland, did not respond to requests for comment.** end quote–
actually, the bits of the article that I read, explained the 4% discrepancy allowed very well.
All your links are about CO2 – direct emissions from the car – and the last link ist ich sprechen nicht deutsch und ich habe etwas vergessen – and if I could remember much more I would say I can no longer read in german …
I guess Tesla is leading the way – hopefully the prices/range will come down soon.
I like Tesla’s approach much better: 100% electric, free charging for life at Tesla Supercharging Stations, which will attain pretty much full coverage of major arteries across the US next year.
Agreed. Of course, as we all know, the 100% electric all too often needs to be generated via fossil fuels. But it’s a move in the right direction.
Quite interesting, yes.
Faking these test scores, though, tells me that car manufacturers know that they’re selling lies and feigning higher efficiency than they can actually deliver.
I can’t find the artilce, sadly, but an industry expert from a renowned German university wrote a couple of years back that we’re almost at the lowest end of what combustion engines can deliver in terms of milage per litre. Hybrids extend this but only so far.
To summarise the German article from 2012 that I linked to:
It was an industry report about the lack of actual willingness to commit to electric cars by the German manufacturers. Sure, VW, BMW, and Daimler have all built dedicated research centers and plants but even in 2012 they weren’t ready to fully commit. That was five years after the introduction of the Toyota Prius, mind you.
They are not across tge USA. There are absolutely no Super Chargers in the NYS Figer Lakes Region for over 500 miles away!
Plus you can’t find a Super Charger between Syracuse and Buffalo! A distance of 600 plus miles on I-90!
So, nuclear is the way of the future. We have been using the wrong kind, all thus tine. Fusion, is just pie in huge sky, though thorium is safe, it’s not boring.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reactor
The problem that Tesla solved but other cars haven’t is RANGE! The hundred miles of Electric Cars ranges is just not enough!
Look at Tesla’s map: http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger for 2016. Looks like there will be two more stations between Buffalo and Syracuse.
In the short term yes. But in the long term, who knows. There are many theorems and proposals. One of which that is interesting and certainly possible is harnessing the power of CME’s from the sun (Coronal Mass Ejections) using a solar sail.