Photo: BMW
Klaus Frölich is an interesting guy and a talented engineer. But while his work as head of development includes the 5 Series-based Power BEV with more than 720 PS (710 horsepower) from a three-motor layout, he’s also the man who said “there is no customer requests for BEVs.”
Motoring.com.au reports this quote came to be at a round-table interview in Munich, and Frölich didn’t stop there. “We could flood Europe and sell a million cars but Europeans won’t buy these things.” Wait, what?
On the one hand, customers in the Old Continent are more reluctant than Americans to electric vehicles. And on the other, there’s a major lack of government incentives for EVs in the European Union. There are a few notable exceptions such as Norway, whose e-customers are exempt from the value-added tax, import or purchase tax, road tax and tolls, and munincipal parking fees.
Speaking of Norway, the Nordic country is the third in the world for electric vehicles after the United States and China. Almost a third of new cars sold in Norway are pure electric, and as it happens, the northernmost part of the Scandinavian Peninsula will end sales of fossil-fuelled cars by 2025.
Turning our attention back to Frölich, he also said that a kWh in Munich goes for 50 euro cents, making a four-cylinder turbo diesel cheaper to drive than an EV. “It’s below 20 euro cents in France,” he added. But despite these frustrating complications, BMW pledged to launch 25 electrified models by 2025.
The iNext is the one to watch, coming in 2021 with Level 3 autonomous driving technology. Frölich thinks that BMW is “five years ahead” of other brands in Europe in terms of EV development, but looking at the bigger picture, the Bavarians have a long way to go until Tesla takes notice of their effort.
On that note, would you consider the iX3 electric crossover over the Model Y? If you do, why would you choose BMW over Tesla?
Motoring.com.au reports this quote came to be at a round-table interview in Munich, and Frölich didn’t stop there. “We could flood Europe and sell a million cars but Europeans won’t buy these things.” Wait, what?
On the one hand, customers in the Old Continent are more reluctant than Americans to electric vehicles. And on the other, there’s a major lack of government incentives for EVs in the European Union. There are a few notable exceptions such as Norway, whose e-customers are exempt from the value-added tax, import or purchase tax, road tax and tolls, and munincipal parking fees.
Speaking of Norway, the Nordic country is the third in the world for electric vehicles after the United States and China. Almost a third of new cars sold in Norway are pure electric, and as it happens, the northernmost part of the Scandinavian Peninsula will end sales of fossil-fuelled cars by 2025.
Turning our attention back to Frölich, he also said that a kWh in Munich goes for 50 euro cents, making a four-cylinder turbo diesel cheaper to drive than an EV. “It’s below 20 euro cents in France,” he added. But despite these frustrating complications, BMW pledged to launch 25 electrified models by 2025.
The iNext is the one to watch, coming in 2021 with Level 3 autonomous driving technology. Frölich thinks that BMW is “five years ahead” of other brands in Europe in terms of EV development, but looking at the bigger picture, the Bavarians have a long way to go until Tesla takes notice of their effort.
On that note, would you consider the iX3 electric crossover over the Model Y? If you do, why would you choose BMW over Tesla?
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