Electric BMWs Coming By 2015

[JoshCalkins]

BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer has announced that the German automaker will be pairing with other auto manufacturers to put what the company is calling "megacity" electric cars on the roads by 2015. The company will decide by the end of the year what brand the electric vehicles will carry, whether BMW, Mini, or a new brand plate. There are currently 500 electric Minis being leased to customers in the United States and Germany as a test fleet.

BMW has approached the issue of electric vehicles, and the battery technologies necessary, in a rather unique way. In the past few months, automakers around the globe have been pairing up with variuos existing battery manufacturers. For example, Ford and Volkswagen have both entered into a partnership with BYD, a Chinese company that is the second-largest battery producer in the world. BMW, however, has eschewed such a partnership and has instead decided to team up with other auto manufacturers (most recently, they developed a Two-Mode hybrid drivetrain with GM, Chrysler, and Mercedes-Benz). The partnerships with other companies has proven fruitful for other technologies, but in a race to build electric vehicles, competing automakers may not be willing to share their battery technologies.