BMW Sees Battery Costs Causing Years of ‘Tears’ on E-Cars
· Doubling
battery capacity expected to take seven years
· Electric-car demand limited for
foreseeable future, CFO says
BMW AG sees no quick way to boost profit from electric cars,
with battery capacity and cost set to weigh on the technology for the foreseeable future.
“We
simply have to walk through the valley of tears” to figure out how to save more money on producing
battery-powered cars, Stefan Juraschek, vice president of electric-powertrain development, told reporters
at a briefing at a BMW testing facility in Munich.
With driving ranges limited by current
technology, the company expects it to take about seven years to double the amount of energy stored in a
battery, which weighs about 230 kilograms (510 pounds) in the squat BMW i3 hatchback. Improving battery
performance is key, as “there’s a clear trend to bigger electric cars and longer driving ranges,”
Juraschek said.