BMW eyes battery costs
• Car maker pursues raw material agreements with mining companies
German luxury vehicle maker BMW plans more deals with mining companies to secure electric-vehicle battery materials and is open to forming alliances to share the costs of developing autonomous-vehicle systems, the research & development chief says.
BMW management board member Klaus Froehlich said vehicle makers and large suppliers are beginning to discuss how to agree on one standard for autonomous-vehicle systems. He has said in the past car makers and suppliers should agree on a single standard.
“Everybody has an interest or should have an interest” in common autonomous-vehicle standards, Froehlich said last week during an event to show off an electric and autonomous sport utility vehicle (SUV).
Froehlich made his comments before a report in Automotive News on Friday that Volkswagen is interested in an industry alliance to standardise autonomous-vehicle systems.
On batteries, Froehlich said, BMW is pursuing a strategy aimed at securing lower-cost batteries than its rivals can, in part by controlling the supply of raw materials for its batterymaking partners.
“We will have agreements with mining companies,” Froehlich said. “We have one agreement. There will be more.” A key issue is securing cobalt from mines that do not exploit workers or employ children.
BMW rode a wave of electric-vehicle marketing in September by European luxury brands. The German vehicle makers and rivals, including Tata’s Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo Cars, a unit of China’s Zhejiang Geely, are gearing up for new electric models.
The legacy vehicle makers are under pressure from regulators in China, Europe and the
IN ELECTROMOBILITY, YOU HAVE TO BE A COST LEADER. IF YOU ARE NOT A COST LEADER YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE
state of California to field more clean vehicles. The European brands also want to keep more affluent consumers from flocking to vehicles made by Silicon Valley car maker Tesla.
BMW has already disclosed agreements with Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics.
However, Froehlich said those companies will supply batteries using a proprietary BMW design.
“In electromobility, you have to be a cost leader,” he said. “If you are not a cost leader you will not survive.”
BMW on Saturday showed off the electric, autonomous “Vision iNext” SUV in Beijing as part of a publicity tour in which the prototype car and a stage have travelled around the world in the hold of a Lufthansa cargo aircraft. The vehicle, with accelerator and brake pedals that sink into the floor during autonomous driving and touchscreen controls embedded in the rear seat cushion, hints at an electric vehicle BMW could launch among 12 electric models it has promised by 2025.
On Monday, Volkswagen’s Audi brand plans a launch for its e-Tron SUV, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said he plans to release news about the first passenger for space launch company SpaceX’s slyly named BFR rocket.