BMW increases EV sales and announces recycling partnership

The BMW Group maintained its position in 2024 with 426,594 all-electric vehicles delivered and BEV sales growth of 13.5%. The BMW brand also achieved serious BEV growth with 368,523 electric cars (+11.6%). Meanwhile, the Group is launching a closed-loop battery recycling ecosystem with SK tes, a leading innovative technology lifecycle solutions provider.

Even though the Munich-based company and the vital core brand are still growing at double-digit rates, a different growth dynamic can be observed than in previous years. +108% in 2022 compared to 2021, +74.4% in 2022 compared to 2023, and now +13.5%. Therefore, the general market trend in electromobility can also be seen at BMW, even if the figures here remain positive.

By comparison, direct competitor Mercedes presented its figures at the end of last week. At Mercedes-Benz Cars, the figure was 185,100 BEVs (-23%). The figures are not comparable at the Group level, as BMW, for example, does not have a van division.

Also Mini and Rolls-Royce

Besides BMW as a brand, the group also offers ‘British’ brands such as Mini and Rolls-Royce. Here, too, the trend was positive. At Mini, electric sales were up by 24.3%, with 56,181 vehicles, while at Rolls-Royce, the figure was as high as 479.6%. That’s exaggerated, of course, because 2024 was the first full year of electric Spectre sales. A second Rolls-Royce electric car is due to be launched in 2025.

What is also interesting is the proportion of electric cars at BMW. The brand accounted for 16.7% of the 2.2 million BMWs worldwide (-2.3%). At the Group level, it was even 17.4%, with 426,594 out of 2,450,804 cars.

At Mini, the model changes for the Cooper and Countryman are paying off with attractive electric versions: While EV sales rose by over 24%, total deliveries fell by 17.1%. This means that 22.9% of all new Minis were purely electric.

PHEVs steadily receding in sales

BMW no longer reports plug-in hybrids separately in its communication. Since BEVs and PHEVs are summarized under ‘electrified’ vehicles (593,215 in total), we calculate a result of 166,621 plug-in hybrids. For 2023, this was  190,303; in 2022, there were still 218,040 PHEVs.

The Munich-based company is optimistic for 2025: the BMW Group is continuing its growth course for all-electric vehicles in a challenging market environment,” says the press release.  “This is reflected in both the significant sales growth for fully-electric vehicles and the clear rise in new BEV orders in Europe,” says Jochen Goller, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Customer, Brands and Sales. “We are confident we can maintain our BEV sales growth in 2025 with our strong and expanded product line-up.”

Goller did not specify a concrete target for electric vehicle sales or the proportion of total registrations accounted for by electric vehicles. In 2024, BMW missed the target of 20%. A year ago, an EV share of 25% was mentioned as the target for 2025. We’ll see.

Battery recycling

Following the successful establishment of a closed loop for the reuse of raw materials from high-voltage batteries by BMW Brilliance Automotive Joint Venture (BBA) in China in 2022, the BMW Group has now launched a Europe-wide partnership with SK Tes, a provider of technology life cycle solutions.

In a special recycling process, cobalt, nickel, and lithium are extracted from used batteries and then returned to the value chain to produce new batteries. This closed cycle will be expanded across the US, Mexico, and Canada region in 2026.

The process will involve mechanically shredding the old batteries, during which the metals are concentrated to leave a material called ‘black mass.’ The materials, specifically nickel, lithium, and cobalt, are then recovered in a hydrometallurgical process. “Among other things, these secondary raw materials will be used for the new GEN 6 drive train,” BMW writes.

“Partnerships like this increase our efficiency in terms of the circular economy. In the closed-loop process, all partners mutually benefit from their experiences,” says Jörg Lederbauer, VP of Circular Economy, Spare Parts Supply High Voltage Battery and Electric Powertrain at BMW AG.

“The development of recyclable products, the increase of secondary materials in our components, and the closing of loops play an equally important role,” adds Nadine Philipp, VP of the Sustainability Supplier Network at BMW AG. “And by this circular economy, we are also increasing our resilience in the supply chains.”

SK tes

SK tes currently operates and owns over 40 facilities, employing around 2,600 specialists in over 40 countries. The company boasts a recovery rate of over 97% for battery materials and even counted the weight of assets it has recovered since 2021: 108,817 tons.

SK tes was founded in 2005. BMW’s press release also notes how innovative SK tes’s approach has been: “The battery recycling process of SK tes has won numerous sustainability and innovation awards worldwide—from the Business Intelligence Group’s Sustainability Service of the Year to the UN Global Compact’s Apex Award.”