BMW to increase China charging poles to 360,000

[SHANGHAI] BMW AG plans to increase the number of public electric-vehicle charging poles in China to 360,000 by the end of this year, as the German automaker steps up efforts to capture a larger slice of the world's biggest EV market.

And BMW's Chinese plants plan to be carbon-neutral by the end of the year as part of a move to reduce emissions in the production chain by 80 per cent by 2030. The moves were part of a series of steps outlined at the company's first Sustainability China Summit in Beijing on Thursday.

"As a multi-national company with a large-scale footprint in China, BMW is fully supporting the country's transition toward a low-carbon economy by placing sustainability at the core of our own China strategy," BMW's China Chief Executive Officer Jochen Goller, said in a statement.

President Xi Jinping has set a goal of China becoming carbon neutral by 2060, and the government has rolled out support to make the country an electric-vehicle production powerhouse. In China's blueprint for the development of new energy vehicles, industry regulators estimated that EVs may rise to 20 per cent of total new car sales by 2025 from the current 5 per cent.

BMW had about 300,000 charging pillars in China at the end of 2020, suggesting it will add a further 60,000 this year.

The company plans to launch 12 all-electric BMW and Mini models in China by 2023, covering all mainstream market segments, with all-electric vehicles expected to account for 25 per cent of total sales in the nation, the company said Thursday.

BMW's joint-venture with Great Wall Motor Co is set to start production in 2023. The construction of a manufacturing plant with Great Wall is "well under way" and the main structure should be completed later this year, Mr Goller said in April. Production of two Mini EVs for the China and global markets will start in 2023, he said at the time.

BLOOMBERG