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When could BMW stop producing internal combustion engines?
For electric mobility, the question is not when the heat engine stops. The question is, when is the system ready to absorb all those battery electric vehicles? These are recharging infrastructures, renewable energies. Are the people ready? Is the system ready? Is the charging infrastructure ready? All that.
It is also related to the fact that I have people who work for me on combustion engines and that I orient them over time towards electric. It doesn’t make sense to make the transition overnight. I have to make sure that this transition works perfectly, both for social and economic reasons. These are real big questions.
You still need to invest to make sure internal combustion engines comply with the latest emissions regulations. Your predecessor said that it was almost impossible to make a business case for the V12 or the V8 to survive. What’s the business case now?
Concerning the euro zone, Euro 7 is currently under discussion, and it is a discussion which is very difficult for us, not because of strict emission values ​​such as for NOX or CO2. This is not the critical point. We all have an interest in this Euro 7 regulation making the most of combustion engines.
The problem is the European Commission’s proposal. The commission said emissions requirements should be met at all times. This means that you can test compliance with a trailer at minus 20 degrees centigrade by going up the hill at 3000 meters above sea level. As manufacturers, we said it wouldn’t work. It would be like banning the combustion engine.
It is also very important that we communicate clearly with the commission that we accept the strict regulations, but in a way that allows us to approve the vehicle as an OEM. We hope to complete this dialogue by the end of the year. This is a concern because it is the last big investment in combustion engines.
Then we’ll have an investment that will take us to the end of the decade, and no one has to decide today whether they have a combustion engine exit strategy for 2030. The last thing we want is this. is that customers buy electric cars and there is no adequate charging infrastructure. It is not in anyone’s interest.
What is your view of hydrogen and fuel cells?
The X5 is the most efficient fuel cell in the global industry. It has a power of 125 kilowatts, and we know that hydrogen will be part of the overall energy solution for heavy trucks and for industrial purposes. Infrastructure will also need to be put in place, at least for trucks on highways. It is not yet clear to what extent hydrogen can play a role in the other segments.
It all depends on the distribution of this green hydrogen between the different sectors. I think hydrogen can play a role, because what’s clear is that with battery-electric vehicles, you can’t solve range anxiety with ever-expanding range.
How are you going to solve the problem of scope anxiety?
We will have to rely on a well-functioning charging infrastructure, because we cannot say that the next generation of electric cars will have 1,200 km of range. We are keeping an eye on the evolution of the charging infrastructure, but we do not yet know exactly how that will play out.
So, how do you determine where to end with the right range for an electric car? When you get a real range of 600 km, then you have a reasonable product. You have very few opportunities in the year where you really need a long distance.
The other thing is that the market will split into two parts. There will be people who will need a long range, because it is the only vehicle in the household. It is constantly in use. When they then get real 600 km – which means 800 km, 900 km in the homologation cycle – I think they will be happy, but there will certainly be a market of many people who will not have one at all. need.
So for battery technologies, there’s the focus on range and then something that’s totally cost-oriented, which would allow for an actual range of maybe 400 km. It works great for many people.
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