BMW vs. Tesla – Which Company Is A Bigger Innovator?

Harald Krüger, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Production, said that BMW is looking at Tesla in terms of developing electric vehicles and respects the company for paving the road for BMW and other automakers in this segment. But the following question arises: which company is a bigger innovator?Peter Yared, CTO/CIO at CBS Interactive, tries to shed some light on this topic from a technology, brand recognition and market size perspective. Here is an excerpt from an article published on TechCrunch:

BMW invested tremendous resources in its electric car platform to develop an all-electric vehicle platform, and it is willing to integrate legacy technology in order to deliver immediate value to its customers. Conversely, Mercedes chose a partnership route and is buying the drivetrain and battery technology for its upcoming electric car from Tesla. Both BMW and Mercedes are well ahead of Tesla in advanced vehicle technology like self-parking and cruise control that can automatically follow highway lanes and maintain distance from other vehicles.

Rather than waiting for battery technology to evolve to make an all-electric car with a 200-mile range at a mid-range price point, BMW is selling an optional “range extender” consisting of a two cylinder motorcycle engine that maintains the batteries at a 5 percent power level and extends the car’s range an additional 80 miles. Since the range extender powers the batteries rather than a gas engine, the i3 is not a hybrid, but the range extender can be continually refilled so that the car is never stuck without power. It’s a total hack, but is well thought out and competitive. BMW’s engineers must have been giggling when they came up with this one.

With the i3, BMW has delivered a “good enough” luxury electric car for the urban driver and average commuter, who can also optionally use the car for longer trips without having to plan for supercharger stations.