BMW is known for setting ambitious goals in the industry and it looks like the electric cars are no exception. From the looks of things and the industry as a whole, it seems like we’re leaving internal combustion engines behind at a faster pace than anticipated. Therefore, BMW had to reevaluate its targets for the next few years. According to Reuters, the CEO of the company said that by 2023, about 20 percent of the cars sold by them should be electric.
The announcement came during a talk with German daily newspaper Augsburger Allgemeine. “We are significantly increasing the number of electric vehicles. Between 2021 and 2023, we will build a quarter of a million more electric cars than originally planned”, Zipse told the newspaper’s Monday edition according to a pre-released version. That’s a bold goal to achieve in just 3 years, considering the number of cars powered by electric motors right now sold by BMW are around 8 percent.
However, in order for that ambitious target to be achieved, the infrastructure needs to evolve as well. That was something Zipse mentioned as well: “15,000 private and about 1,300 public charging points would have to be put into operation every week as of today. Unfortunately, we are a long way from that.” That’s definitely true and more efforts must be put in place to increase the infrastructure, if we want to make a definitely shift towards EVs in the near future.
Luckily, there are plans to expand the infrastructure in every major market out there. Private companies as well as local and central authorities are increasing their investments in the field and we could see major steps made in this direction soon. European countries are definitely stepping up their investments and that’s a good sign. China has also been pushing hard for a change of pace and managed to drastically increase its air quality in big cities so far so the prospects look good.
