BMW has announced its fifth-generation of storage
and powertrain technologies will provide electric vehicles with up to 700 km of range.
The company was coy on specifics but said the
powertrain improvements will also benefit plug-in hybrids. BMW believes the
upcoming system will enable them to travel up to 100 km on
electricity alone. This would be a massive improvement over today's technology
as the 530e iPerformance only has an electric range of 50 km.
The improvements are part of BMW's Strategy NUMBER
ONE > NEXT which calls for the automaker to offer 25 models, across all of
its brands, with either an electric or plug-in hybrid powertrain.
As part of the company's electric push, BMW will
build a production version of the i Vision Dynamics concept which recently
debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show. BMW CEO Harald Krüger noted "we are
electrifying the very heart of the BMW brand" and said "we will build
this model at our Munich plant, thereby highlighting Germany’s importance as a
location for electric mobility."
In the near future, the BMW Group plans to launch
approximately forty new and updated models during the "current and the
following year." A number of these launches will occur in the
upper-premium segment that includes vehicles such as the 8-Series and X7.
