At BMW, preparations are underway for the small series of the BMW i Hydrogen Next based on the current X5, announced last year for 2022. While the fuel cells themselves come from partner Toyota, some core components are to be manufactured in Bavaria.

BMW and Ford continue to invest in solid-state batteries. Together with Volta Energy Technologies, both carmakers have participated in a $130Mn investment round of the US solid-state battery specialist Solid Power. The two carmakers are to receive 100 Ah cells for validation tests in 2022.

The BMW Group is starting production of battery components at its Leipzig and Regensburg plants. On 3 May 2021, the series production of battery modules will start in Leipzig. The Regensburg plant already began painting battery cells for high-voltage batteries in April.

Mercedes driver Nyck de Vries and BMW driver Jake Dennis won the two Formula E races in Valencia. Especially the Saturday race with the Mercedes victory caused discussions: Only nine of the 24 cars were scored in the end, as many drivers ran out of energy.

Major players such as BMW AG, Groupe Renault, Stellantis, Tritium and Volkswagen AG, and Shell, bp, and Total, have agreed to implement Plug&Charge as standardised by ISO before the second half of this year. A dedicated project team at CharIN is to drive the implementation.

BMW has announced its intention to realise a solid-state battery suitable for automotive use in series production by the end of this decade. A first demonstrator vehicle with this technology is to be shown “well before 2025”. Funding is available from German federal and state governments.

The classic toy car brand is launching miniature versions of some electric cars. The first model is a Tesla Roadster made of 99 per cent recycled materials that will be available from 2022. Other models include the Nissan Leaf and the BMW i3 and i8 models.

Alongside the BMW Group and Daimler Mobility AG, BP will become the third shareholder in the charging infrastructure provider Digital Charging Solutions GmbH (DCS) with a share of 33.3 per cent. DCS will also offer combined charging and refuelling solutions through the partnership with the mineral oil company in the future.

The new safety car for Formula E will once again come from the BMW Group, but this time it will be purely electric. Following the BMW i8 with plug-in hybrid drive, this role will be taken over by the Mini Electric Pacesetter inspired by JCW: a special version of the new Mini Cooper SE.

Starting next year, the BMW Group will be purchasing lithium from a second supplier, the US company Livent. The volume of the multi-year contract is around 285 million euros. Livent will supply the lithium directly to the BMW Group’s battery cell manufacturers.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the BMW Group are expanding their partnership focused on smart charging electric vehicles with excess renewable energy to support grid reliability.

BMW and Daimler’s mobility provider Free Now appears to have discontinued its e-scooter brand Hive without much ado at the end of last year. Free Now was to save high investments in hardware and logistics due when operating a scooter fleet.

BMW Group is intensifying its e-mobility advance and confirms plans to transform Mini into a pure electric car label. Besides, the German carmaker showed the series version of the BMW i4 for the first time.

BMW has announced the German prices and technical specifications of the two versions of its iX electric SUV. The iX xDrive40 and iX xDrive50 variants will be launching in Germany by the end of 2021 with prices starting at 77,300 euros.

The Berlin-based micromobility provider Tier Mobility has entered into a cooperation with the Free Now mobility platform from BMW and Daimler. As part of the cooperation, Tier’s electric scooters (kick-scoters and mopeds) will be gradually integrated into the Free Now app.

BMW wants to more than double the electrified vehicle output at its plant in German Dingolfing this year to over 40,000 vehicles, up from just about 20,000. The all-electric BMW iX will become the main driver behind the push.

The BMW Group has introduced a new tariff structure for its charging services BMW Charging and Mini Charging in 19 European countries. Only one of the two tariffs offers fixed prices at all available charging stations. In both cases, preferential conditions with Ionity cost more.

BMW will give the all-electric Mini Cooper SE a facelift in March. To mark the launch of the new edition, the brand is also bringing out a special edition model called the Mini Electric Collection.

BMW is reportedly adjusting its product plans for the coming electric cars. According to German media, some electric limousines are planned, but only one more EV offshoot of the well-known SUV models.

The Center of Automotive Management (CAM) has analysed the innovative strength of 32 car manufacturers looking at 291 innovations in the field of electric mobility. Tesla remains by far the top innovator in the technology field but is tracked by VW.

Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, Hyundai, Kia, Volkswagen and other major carmakers join General Motors in abandoning their support for former US President Trump. This is also an act to support and perhaps influence the Biden administration in setting new emission standards.

Chinese state-owned carmaker FAW is considering taking over BMW’s local partner Brilliance. The background is the precarious financial situation of Brilliance’s largest shareholder, the Huachen Automotive Group, which is on the verge of bankruptcy.

As manufacturers scrambled to meet EU (and Swiss) CO2 compliance levels with a last-minute registrations splash-and-dash in December, Schmidt Automotive Research crunched the numbers with some astonishing results.

According to a media report, BMW brings forward the production start of the all-electric i4 from the year’s end to August or September. This means BMW could roll-out the first cars in Germany in 2021. In China, meanwhile, BMW has significantly reduced the price of its iX3 electric SUV.

BMW is expanding its plug-in hybrid range for the 3 Series and 5 Series by two additional models each from March. The 320e and 520e will be added to the saloon portfolio and Touring versions of both model series. In Germany, prices will range between 47,450 and 55,900 euros before subsidies.

The European Commission has approved a second project under EU state aid rules to support research and innovation in the battery value chain. Several German companies will benefit from this, but also Tesla.

Because the expansion of the Ionity fast-charging network is progressing too slowly, the owners are discussing attracting private equity capital for Ionity. According to a media report, financial circles are talking about at least 500 million euros in fresh money.

BMW and Daimler’s Free Now mobility platform aims to achieve carbon neutrality in all key European markets by 2030 and is committing more than 100 million euros in resources over the next five years to the shift toward e-mobility.

German carmakers Porsche, Audi, VW and the BMW Group, have published sales figures for 2020. Although overall sales declined, their sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids still saw a significant increase. In some cases, these now account for a double-digit share of total sales.

BMW is aiming to build “a quarter of a million more electric cars than originally planned” between 2021 and 2023. The automaker wants to more than double the share of electrified vehicles in its sales from around eight per cent this year to around 20 per cent in 2023.