Photo: Catalin Garmacea
The big investment BMW put into creating the i sub-brand is beginning to take its toll, and, even though, the sales figures for the first year are looking good; they need to be even better. Last year the Germans sold 6,092 i3s in the US, the market they rely on the most and that numbers need to double for the car to be profitable.
Sure, the i8 is also on sale at the moment, for over three times more money but the limited availability of the plug-in hybrid makes it less of a cash cow. BMW doubled its production in Leipzig, but that still isn’t cutting it.
So what’s the solution? For starters, the Bavarians want to sell twice as many i3s in the US this year. That adds up to around 12,000 units, and it won’t be an easy target to achieve. Why so many? Because BMW needs to sell 20,000 EVs a year to make up for the €2 billion investment in the first place.
In order to spruce things up, the Germans teamed up with Volkswagen and ChargePoint to create a network of chargers for it that would rival the Supercharger network from Tesla. The 100 DC stations are spread along the main highways on the East and West Coasts to facilitate traveling between big cities. That should solve some of the range anxiety issues.
On top of that, home charging systems are also being given a lot of attention as it might also convince drivers to adopt an ‘electric’ lifestyle. Of course, using a BMW-designed home charging service saves you money and makes sure your i3 is charged optimally but it does cost a premium to begin with.
Overall, BMW’s problems could be solved if they manage to sell the claimed 12,000 units in the US alone, leaving around 8,000 more for the rest of the world to deal with. That's a figure that seems attainable.
So what’s the solution? For starters, the Bavarians want to sell twice as many i3s in the US this year. That adds up to around 12,000 units, and it won’t be an easy target to achieve. Why so many? Because BMW needs to sell 20,000 EVs a year to make up for the €2 billion investment in the first place.
In order to spruce things up, the Germans teamed up with Volkswagen and ChargePoint to create a network of chargers for it that would rival the Supercharger network from Tesla. The 100 DC stations are spread along the main highways on the East and West Coasts to facilitate traveling between big cities. That should solve some of the range anxiety issues.
On top of that, home charging systems are also being given a lot of attention as it might also convince drivers to adopt an ‘electric’ lifestyle. Of course, using a BMW-designed home charging service saves you money and makes sure your i3 is charged optimally but it does cost a premium to begin with.
Overall, BMW’s problems could be solved if they manage to sell the claimed 12,000 units in the US alone, leaving around 8,000 more for the rest of the world to deal with. That's a figure that seems attainable.
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