» BMW reviewsBMW announced that its upcoming production electric vehicles will be launched under a sub-brand of BMW, meaning we should see designations like EV Series and so on. A famous sub-brand that belongs to BMW is the M brand, for auto maker’s high performance cars like the M3, M5 and M6. According to BMW, its first production electric car is expected to hit showrooms before 2015.
A BMW statement said that the decision was a milestone on the path to mass production of a city car and Samsung chief executive Soon Taek Kim said his group and Bosch would "supply BMW with the best battery technology available in terms of performance, range and safety." Developing reliable batteries has been a major hurdle in making electric cars but they now provide sufficient autonomy to make such vehicles economically viable.
This auto will be launched on the market as a sub-brand of BMW. As BMW is the innovation driver within the Group, the decision for a sub brand under BMW is the most logical step. Details on this topic will be made known later this year. Also, the premium auto maker has announced its agreement with SB LiMotive, which is 50:50 joint venture between Samsung SDI and Bosch, for the supply of lithium-ion battery packs for BMW’s Megacity project . Plans under the Megacity project include the production of compact hybrid cars. Cars under this program should be classified under the new sub-brand mentioned above, as well.
BMW is currently testing about 600 models of its electrically-powered Mini car in Britain, Germany and the United States, and mass production is forecast for sometime around 2015, the statement said. The SB LiMotive company chosen to make the lithium-ion batteries. The family of cars is scheduled to be introduced in the first half of the next decade and will feature pure electric drive or an efficient combustion engine - all will be very low emission vehicles.
The battery is a key component in any electric vehicle - it determines the range and performance of the car," BMW Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer said in a statement on Monday. "With SB LiMotive we have selected a supplier who offers the best available technology, combining leading German automotive expertise with future-oriented Korean battery know-how.
Production of the batteries will begin next year and, according to a briefing by Dr Joachim Fetzer, the executive vice president of SB LiMotive, the company will focus on optimising the cell chemistry. Its goals are to produce a power density in excess of 4,000W/kg by 2012 for hybrid applications. It also wants to produce an energy density greater than 150Wh/kg for electric car applications - that’s a 30-40 per cent improvement within three years.
The company hopes to produce a battery pack for around two thirds of the current cost. The BMW Group meanwhile, has organised its electrical and urban mobility efforts within project I - an initiative from its Number One strategy. Its first output was the MINI E, which is currently undergoing a large scale field trial in the US, the UK and Germany.
The 7 Series and X6 mild hybrids are expected to feature a V8 engine in tandem with an electric motor, similar to the powertrain teams displayed in earlier concepts. They'll be displayed along with BMW's entire fleet of EfficientDynamics properties.
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