BMW aims to build half a million electric drives per year

BMW planned to produce electric drives for more than half a million electrified vehicles per year by 2022 at its largest European production site in Dingolfing, a town in southern Bavaria, the German carmaker announced on Thursday, reported Xinhua.

"We continue to ramp up electromobility and set standards for the transformation of our industry," said Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW.

Bavaria's Minister-President Markus Soeder and Zipse symbolically launched the production of the "new, highly integrated BMW e-drive" on Thursday and opened the expanded production lines for electric powertrain components such as battery modules, high-voltage batteries and electric motors.

BMW's electric drive was characterized by the fact that the electric motor, transmission and power electronics were combined in a central housing, according to BMW.

"The new generation of the BMW e-drive will be used for the first time in the new BMW iX3, which will go into production in China in late summer," the German carmaker announced.

In the coming years, the company would set up another production line in order to increase "production capacity significantly," BMW announced.

By 2021, a quarter of BMW vehicles sold in Europe would be electrified cars. By 2030, the share of electrified vehicles would rise to 50 percent, according to BMW.