Mygreenwheels

On the very day that Obama announces a $2.4 billion electric vehicle grant in the U.S. I read here that BMW is planning to launch a new class of environmentally friendly vehicles under its own brand. According to its CEO 'certain carmakers may no longer be in the market' soon after the raft of tax penalties and incentives come into effect to force the auto industry to go green. 

So BMW has decided to create a new sub-brand - a bit like its M label for high performance Beemers - to label its new range which may include a two-wheel model and will target commuters in large cities. The first vehicle to be launched under this new label will be electric, though BMW already has an EV under the Mini brand. There's no word about when we can expect to see BMW's electric car, but plenty of the usual pondering about the distance limitations of battery powered cars acting as a deterrent to buyers.

That's why I was interested in the Christian Science Monitor's report on Obama's massive grant. It points out that right now EV manufacturers, primarily in Asia, are the world leaders in the mass production of advanced battery vehicles, so even the US-made Ford Fusion hybrid has a foreign made battery at its core. No surprise really that the U.S. government doesn't want to swap reliance on Middle Eastern oil for South Korean batteries for its auto energy future. That's why $1.5 billion of the grant will go into battery manufacturing projects. Considering the prediction quoted in this article that by 2020 some 47% of vehicles sold in the U.S. will have some sort of battery at their core, that makes a lot of sense.

The biggest grant at $299 million has gone to a company making batteries for Ford with $249 million to Chrysler's battery supplier and the rest divvied up between 46 projects across 20 states. So finally the big American automaker oil tanker is starting to turn around. It's just a shame that it took a global economic meltdown to make that happen.

Personally they can keep their Ford and Chrysler EVs. I've been a BMW fan for years (330i Tourer in case you're wondering and Mr G drives an M3) since Ford took back my Think EV. I'm waiting expectantly for another EV I'd be happy to drive and I'm confident that BMW's electric car will truly have appeal for enthusiastic drivers like me.