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BMW Joins Germany’s Platform for E-Mobility

Following the launch of the “national platform for electromobility” by German Chancellor Angela Merkel today, BMW announced it will actively get involved in the process, mostly by providing scientific results from field tests currently being carried out with the MINI E.

The “basic conditions” working group will be chaired jointly by Klaus Draeger, Member of the BMW AG Board of Management responsible for development, and Lars-Hendrik Röller from the European School of Management and Technology.

“Germany is well positioned to become an international leader in the area of electromobility over the long term. To make this happen, our leaders in politics and industry have to be pulling in the same direction,” said Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the BMW AG Board.

The German manufacturer started its worldwide pilot project involving 600 MINI E cars in mid-2009 and since then is has been gathering valuable information on the everyday usage of electrically-powered vehicles.

In Germany, the company has teamed up with Vattenfall to release 50 of the cars to customers in Berlin as part of a project supported by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

Next year, BMW will offer a second electric vehicle, the BMW ActiveE, to customers as part of another pilot project. The results of the tests will be used in the development of the future Megacity Vehicle, the BMW Group’s first series-produced electric vehicle.

The Megacity vehicle will be built at the BMW Leipzig plant, as part of project i, and will be available from 2013.
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