One of the members of BMW AG’s Board of Development, Klaus Fröhlich, recently made some interesting comments at the Vienna Motor Symposium concerning the intention behind the company’s creation of the next-generation Power eDrive plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) platform.
To be specific, amongst Fröhlich’s comments, one of the most interesting was the statement that the Power eDrive systems will be designed to provide a total range of around 600 kilometers (~373 miles), with the idea being that roughly 80% of the average commuters trips will be able to be made via only the all-electric driving mode — in other words, a PHEV where gas will only need to be used on around one in every 5 trips (for the average commuter).
Not a bad target for a PHEV, to my eyes — though one that has more or less been achieved by some competing PHEVs. Though, to be fair, none of these competing PHEVs are BMWs, and name brands and status clearly matter very much to many people in the world. And, for that matter, Germans seem largely averse to buying cars from non-German manufacturers, so there’s very likely a good amount of market potential there.
Fröhlich also made the comment that, given the fair amount of success that the BMW i3 has achieved, an all-electric drive outfitted in small + mid-sized vehicles was currently a good option for many of those living in urban areas, so long as they had typical use patterns. Those that travel further afield, though, would be better advised to go with PHEVs, such as those that will utilize the Power eDrive platform.
Here’s an excerpt from his quote that sums that up: “In (the) future there will be different drives for different requirements.”
Image Credit: BMW