BMW Hits 2-Million EV Milestone, But Later Than Planned
The BMW Group has reached a major production milestone for fully electric vehicles. At the company's Plant Dingolfing in Germany, the two-millionth EV has just rolled off the production line. That vehicle is a BMW i5 M60 xDrive sedan finished in Tansanit Blue, and this milestone EV is now on its way to a customer in Spain. It's a remarkable achievement for the German marque, but BMW actually reached this target a little later than expected.
BMW's EV Journey Started Slowly
The first mass-produced EV from BMW was the oddball i3 hatchback, which first went into production in 2013. Also available with a range-extender version with a gas engine, the i3 was very much a product of its time, with experimental styling that had little in common with regular BMWs.
Since then, BMW's global electric lineup has grown to include zero-emission versions of popular models like the X3 and 5 Series. Unlike the first i3, they look nearly identical to equivalent gas-powered BMW models.
At Plant Dingolfing, series production of EVs began in 2021 with the midsize iX. Today, the i5 sedan, i5 touring, and i7 are built here, too. BMW is also set to begin EV production in the U.S. later in 2026. It's not clear which models will go into production At the South Carolina plant, but the upcoming iX5 is a strong candidate.
Two-Millionth EV Came Later Than Expected
Back in 2021, the BMW Group celebrated the delivery of its one-millionth electrified vehicle with the iX. At that time, there was much greater optimism about the rise of EVs, so BMW made some ambitious projections for its next EV milestone.
"By 2025, the BMW Group will have delivered around two million fully-electric vehicles to customers," said Pieter Nota at the time, then-member of the Board of Management of BMW AG. As we now know, that never materialized, with BMW only hitting that target almost halfway through 2026.
The rate of EV growth has slowed since then, particularly over the last year or so. In Q1 2026, iX sales in the U.S. declined by 50.7% year-over-year, and most other manufacturers have seen similar declines, not helped by the implications of tariffs and the removal of the federal tax credit for EVs.
Related: BMW's Oldest Factory Will Build Only Electric Cars
What It Means
Despite reaching the two-million mark later than anticipated, BMW is one of the only legacy luxury brands to do so. It has handled the electric transition better than rivals like Mercedes-Benz, which has struggled with an unloved styling direction and confusing naming strategy for its EVs. The most significant BMW EV yet-the iX3, the first of the Neue Klasse BMWs-has achieved strong sales in overseas markets, suggesting that BMW could hit 3 million EV sales in the not-too-distant future.
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This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 6:15 PM.