BMW’s Sustainable Value Report isn’t Hugely Interesting But..
For the most part, it’s a mix of PR and corporate accountability blurb. However, BMW’s Sustainable Value Report does hold a few key facts and prospects. We’ve grabbed a few of them here, but if you really want, you can peruse the full report at your leisure.
Recycling batteries to improve carbon footprint
Instead of being recycled, batteries that are too old for in vehicle use are reused for stationary energy storage. During this “second life”, they help us to integrate renewable energy into the power grid and reduce overall energy costs. BMW has demonstrated the technical and economic feasibility of this approach by introducing a large number of pilot systems in Europe, Asia and the USA.
Digitalisation
We are getting ready for a world in which Connectivity, i.e. digitally networked vehicles, will be just as important to customers as aspects like vehicle design. We already offer a traffic jam avoidance service, RTTI (Real Time Traffic Information) and a certain degree of automated driving in stop and go traffic. In five to ten years, our vehicle generations will offer a much broader range of services than they do today, for example business trip organisation or hotel bookings. And vehicles will be able to find the closest parking spaces and park themselves.
Emissions
With its Efficient Dynamics strategy, the BMW Group has lowered the CO2 emissions of its worldwide fleet by 39.5 per cent from 1995 levels.
Energy Use in Production
Thanks to its Clean Production concept, the BMW Group has reduced resource consumption at its plants by an average of 48.1 per cent since 2006, saving the company more than 158 million euros.
Renewable Energy
The company increased the percentage of electricity it obtains from renewable sources to 58 per cent in 2015.
Automated Driving
Significantly, BMW speak of partial and advanced automated driving systems but not of completely automated or driverless cars. This may end up being a battleground of future car design and sales.
The next goal for the BMW Group to achieve by 2020 is to enable highly automated driving on European motorways, with all the challenges this entails, such as crossing country borders or driving through roadworks.