BMW will make an announcement within the next three weeks on moves toward much faster DC charging for electric vehicles.
This has the potential to reduce charging time down from several hours using the current AC to just minutes, said Weiland Bruch, corporate communications chief for BMW i vehicles.
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“We will be making an announcement soon, so watch this space.”
DC charging has the potential to be a major breakthrough for electric vehicles because, along with so-called range anxiety, people are concerned by the length of time it takes to charge them and the difficulties posed by home charging for those who live in high rise buildings.
BMW is already producing 70 i3 models a day at its plant in Leipzig just a few months after its European launch and customer orders are now banked up almost six months ahead. This is before the car is launched next month in the US and China in the summer.
Bruch added: “Clearly we do not want people waiting five or six months for their cars and as we launch into more markets we need to think about increasing production.”
That’s not as simple as it sounds as the i8 petrol-electric sports car begins series production alongside the i3 in Leipzig in April.
Technology used on the i vehicles will spread to other BMW models, particularly the use of lightweight carbon fibre panels.
These are already starting to be seen on the new M3, for instance, and Bruch added that the e-drive powertrain from the i8, which features a 1.5-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine – built at Hams Hall in the UK and one of a new engine line shared with the redesigned Mini range and new 2 Series Active Tourer – will also be used in the upcoming X5 plug-in hybrid.
