This just in from an interview with BMW’s Chief of R&D, Klaus Froehlich, courtesy of Automotive News Europe:

BEV cost more because of the raw materials to make the batteries. This won’t change. Prices could eventually increase as demand for these raw materials rises.

Really, Herr Froelich? The price of batteries will never change? What exactly has it been doing for the last decade. In 2010, a Li-Ion battery pack would set you back about $1200/kWh. Today it is $120-$150/kWh.

Most of the U.S. does not need BEVs.

“Most of the U.S. does not need BMW”. There, I fixed it for you.

Right now a fuel cell powertrain costs about 10 times more than a BEV’s system. We plan to have those costs equalized by 2025 with the third generation of our scalable fuel cell system, which could result in volumes in the hundreds of thousands.

Did Germany legalize hallucinogens? Even if true, hydrogen fuel cell drivetrains are useless without a way to mass produce hydrogen and build tens of thousands of new fueling stations across Europe (at several million a pop). The cheapest way to make H2 is with methane, so that means we still need massive amounts of fossil fuel for transportation, kind of the opposite of the solution we are looking for. Also, HFC drivetrains are only a third to a half as efficient as a BEV, so again, massive amounts of money wasted on a technology vastly inferior to BEVs, and only slightly better than gasoline.

If this 20 year old mentality is what passes for engineering prowess at BMW, the company is heading to the boneyard as fast as its carcinogen-spewing turbo diesels can take it.