Yahoo Autos BMW CEO: "If You Are Not Selling Combustion Engines, Someone Else Will"
Automakers have been constantly one-upping each other recently, trying to convince the public that they alone are the most serious about EVs. But BMW CEO Oliver Zipse seems to think that is going too far. In a roundtable interview reported by Reuters, Zipse cautioned that automakers shouldn't get too reliant on all-electric strategies that only work in select markets.
"When you look at the technology coming out, the EV push, we must be careful because at the same time, you increase dependency on very few countries," Zipse told reporters, according to Reuters. EVs are primarily popular in highly developed markets like China and Europe and also depend on raw materials that flow mostly through China. And as the pandemic and current trade sanctions on Russia show, depending too much on any one set of market conditions or single chain in a supply line can be dangerous.
In an industry that has to plan years out to make sure new products arrive in a market suited for them, betting everything on one outcome is a risky strategy. A serious disruption in charging infrastructure rollout, manufacturing capacity, or raw material availability could tank a brand's whole EV portfolio sales. If that happens, Zipse says an automaker needs to offer an alternative or risk losing customers for good.
"If someone cannot buy an EV for some reason but needs a car, would you rather propose he continues to drive his old car forever? If you are not selling combustion engines anymore, someone else will," said Zipse.
That's especially salient right now. Not only are supply chains strained but Zipse points out that battery raw materials and energy prices for production are both at all-time highs. In his view, this is a peak, but he doesn't foresee things ever being as cheap as they once were. This squares with what Mercedes Chief Technology Officer Markus Schäfer told Road & Track, which is that, in the near future, EVs probably won't get any cheaper.
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