BMW board member:’EVs should have their dedicated lane on highways’

Milan Nedeljkovic, BMW Group board member responsible for production, says that fully electric vehicles must have their own dedicated lane on highways. In an interview with the German newspaper Münchner Merkur, Nedeljkovic explained that this would make the possession and use of an EV far more attractive. “When EVs are constantly overtaking you while you are stuck in a traffic jam, many people would be persuaded to go for an electric vehicle,” he claimed.

EV lane instead of HOV lane

The BMW Group board member also proposes accelerating demand by giving EVs special access to city centers and providing them with free parking spots. The special lane on highways would be an alternative solution for what we know as HOV lanes in some US states. These lanes can only be used by vehicles with two passengers or more and are thus ‘Highly Occupied Vehicles’.

Nedeljkovic also claimed that a privilege for EVs could be an alternative to banning all ICE cars as of 2035, as the European Union proposes. In the long term, he’s also persuaded that governmental incentives for EVs are not a good idea.

Sales of EVs are rising

BMW Group (including Mini and Rolls-Royce) recently published its H1 results for 2024. Although the group sold fewer cars than last year, the share of EVs in total sales continues to grow. BMW sold 190,164 EVs in the first half of 2024, almost a quarter more than in the year before. The EV share in total sales grew from 12.6% to 15.7%.

BMW Group also intends to heighten the production of BMWs in Germany. Last year, 936,000 cars were produced in BMW’s four German production locations, and Nedeljkovic wants to raise this to above one million. That’s why BMW invested more than €5 billion in the German plants, he pointed out.