BMW’s H1 BEV sales more than double on year

BMW Group delivered 75,890 pure battery electric vehicles in the first half of 2022, more than double on the year, the German automaker said Aug. 3.

Overall EV sales also rose 20.4% on the year to 184,468 units, making up a 15.9% share of total deliveries, compared with an 11.4% share a year ago.

Generally higher demand for EVs has boosted the prices of battery raw materials, with the Platts seaborne lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide assessments up 110.1% and 136%, respectively, since the start of 2022 at $71,000/mt CIF North Asia and at $74,800/mt CIF North Asia as of Aug. 2, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data.

However, BMW’s total H1 vehicle sales fell 13.4%, from the comparative period’s all-time high to 1.16 million vehicles, due to the ongoing issues pertaining to semiconductor supply, the war in Ukraine and interruptions in supply chains stemming from COVID-19 lockdowns in China.

Of the overall H1 total, 1.02 million were BMW models, down 13.7% on the year, 140,675 were MINI models, down 10.9% on the year, and 3,191 were Roll-Royce models, up 6.9% on the year.

“The BMW Group expects business conditions to remain difficult in the second half of the year,” the automaker said.

“Although the company expects sales volumes in the second half of the year to be solidly higher than in the same period of the previous year, this will not fully compensate for lost volume in H1 2022,” it said, adding that it expected full-year deliveries to be slightly lower year on year.

BMW expected the share of EVs sold in 2022 to increase significantly and sales of BEVs to more than double on the year.

“By 2025, we aim to have delivered a total of 2 million all-electric vehicles to customers,” BMW Chairman Oliver Zipse said.

“And we are doing everything we can to make sure at least half our global deliveries come from BEVs before 2030. We firmly believe that a mix of BEVs, fuel cells, and highly efficient combustion engines is the best approach for the system as a whole at this time,” he added.

— Jacqueline Holman