The stock exchange day: BMW wants electric cars on its own platform

The automaker BMW wants to use a purely battery-electric technical platform for its cars from the middle of the decade in view of stricter CO2 emission requirements and increasing demand. "Our new plant in Hungary plays a key role here," says BMW boss Oliver Zipse. "The new BEV-centered architecture will start there from the middle of this decade." BEV stands for purely battery-electric vehicles. So far, BMW has done without the expensive development of its own technical platform for its electric cars and builds both battery cars and plug-in hybrids on the same assembly lines as combustion engines.

So far, BMW has saved the cost of developing a platform like the one that Volkswagen set up with the MEB (modular electrical construction kit). Cars with a purely electric architecture, however, are considered to be better matched to the electric drives, which should allow better ranges – and in larger quantities they should also be more efficient in production thanks to fewer conversions. Rival Mercedes had also announced their own electric platforms for the compact and luxury class. Volkswagen also has its own electrical platform called PPE for the premium brands Porsche and Audi.