Skip to main content

BMW makes good on its promise to deliver over 100,000 EVs in 2017

BMW i8 Roadster
Andrew Hard/Digital Trends
There’s nothing quite like keeping your New Year’s resolutions, and this year, BMW managed to do just that. The German automaker announced the successful delivery of more than 100,000 electrified vehicles to customers across the globe in 2017, which the company promised to do at the beginning of the year. This, BMW says, underscores its “leadership role when it comes to electro-mobility.”

Since introducing the BMW i3 in 2013, the company’s first electrified vehicle, the company has delivered more than 200,000 EVs. By 2025, Harald Kruger, chairman of the board of management of BMW AG, noted in a statement, the carmaker hopes to offer 25 electrified models to customers.

Recommended Videos

“We deliver on our promises,” said Kruger. “Selling 100,000 electrified cars in one year is an important milestone, but this is just the beginning for us.” He continued, “Our early focus on electro-mobility has made this success possible – and electro-mobility will continue to be my measure for our future success.”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

BMW is looking forward to what it calls the fifth generation of electric drive train and battery technology, which is slated to be made available beginning in 2021. This new technology will leverage scalable, modular electrification kits — these kits, BMW notes, ought to allow for all car models to be compatible with all types of drive trains. In the next few years, we can look forward to the launch of a number of EVs, like the i8 Roadster in 2018, the fully electric MINI in 2019, the electric BMW X3 in 2020, and finally, the BMW iNext in 2021, which is said to “combine electro-mobility with autonomous driving and new interior connectivity options for the first time in a series-production model.”

Driven by its early adoption of electric technology, BMW already boasts a 10-percent share of the global EV market. Demand for these vehicles is currently particularly high in Western Europe and the U.S., where electrified vehicle sales are said to account for 7 percent of total vehicles sold. However, as China’s market for electrified vehicles grows, it stands to reason that BMW will soon have a large customer base in the Asian nation as well.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Bold style alone can’t muscle Chevy’s new Blazer EV to the head of its class
Front three quarter view of a 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV RS.

They say good things come to those who wait. General Motors is hoping customers will take that maxim to heart.

The 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV, an electric crossover SUV sharing the name of a similarly sized gasoline model, but nothing else, was first shown in the summer of 2022 and quietly entered production a few months ago. But few cars have made it to customers due to production issues that have plagued not just the Blazer, but all of GM’s new EVs, which use a shared component set branded Ultium that’s proving tricky to scale up.

Read more
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N makes one of the coolest EVs ready for the track
Ioniq 5 N front

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is getting even more powerful. Hyundai has unveiled a new variant of the now-loved EV, giving it the classic N treatment -- and making for the new Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.

If you're familiar with Hyundai's N cars, you'll know what this variant means. The new car boasts racing-style accents, turns the pixel design up to eleven, and, as you would expect, offers a new powertrain and a range of performance-focused features that will make driving the new Ioniq 5 N a whole lot more fun.

Read more
Check out the NASA EV that will drive Artemis crew (partway) to the moon
The interior of the EV that will take NASA's Artemis II astronauts to the launchpad.

NASA and electric vehicle startup Canoo Technologies have shown off the EV that will transport the next lunar astronauts to the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center as part of next year’s Artemis II mission.

The space agency unveiled the vehicle earlier this year, but on Sunday, it gave folks attending the Formula 1 race in Austin, Texas, a closer look at its stylish exterior and rather plush interior.

Read more