BMW has launched a driver rewards program in the UK that aims to change the behavior of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicle owners and overcome reluctance to regularly charge their vehicles by incentivizing more electric kilometers. It’s called BMW Points and offers drivers free recharging when they increase the number of fully electric trips.
Points are collected for every mile driven as soon as the vehicle is registered in the BMW points program via the My BMW app and the miles are automatically recorded by the vehicle after registration. In addition, miles driven across Europe are recorded, with BMW Points already being available to customers in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Drivers can collect two points for each electrically driven mile, which doubles to four points for each electrically driven mile in a designated eDrive zone.
In addition, BMW Points users receive 20 bonus points for every fifteen-minute charge of their vehicle. For every user who charges their vehicle twenty times a month for at least fifteen minutes each time, there is an additional monthly bonus of 500 points. As soon as the driver has collected 3,200 points, he will be rewarded with a charging credit of £ 10, which can be used across the entire BMW Charging Network. Customers receive £ 25 free credit at 7,500 points and £ 50 free at 14,500 points.
The program is available to drivers of BMW 330e, BMW 530e, BMW 545e, BMW 745e, BMW X3 30e (produced from August 2021) and BMW X5 45e with BMW Operating System 7.0.
eDrive zones expanded
BMW was the first automaker to introduce geofencing technology in designated areas in London and Birmingham in 2020, which resulted in BMW plug-in hybrids switching to electric driving mode as soon as the vehicle entered those eDrive zones. Six more eDrive zones have now been introduced across the UK in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Liverpool, Bath and Manchester. BMW also launched eDrive Zones in the Republic of Ireland, adding Dublin and Limerick as designated cities.
Environmental concerns
BMW’s move to encourage more electric kilometers through a gamification strategy comes from doubts about the role of PHEVs as a stepping stone to broader adoption of all-electric vehicles. While many in the automotive industry have claimed that the combination of new technology and a traditional motor provides drivers with a way to become more familiar with electric power by reducing concerns about range issues, some environmentalists argue that the cars can actually be less green than their no-battery equivalents if not regularly charged.
A study by the International Council on Clean Transportation and Fraunhofer ISI on the real use and fuel consumption of around 100,000 PHEVs in China, Europe and North America showed that fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from the exhaust pipe averaged around two to four times during real driving higher for cars and three to four times higher for company cars than the manufacturer’s data.
In 2018, The Miles Consultancy’s analysis of real-world MPG data on thousands of proprietary PHEVs found that the average PHEV was consuming a gallon of fuel every 39.3 miles, which is 90 mpg less than the average advertised consumption and significantly worse was than the average company diesel. The consultancy identified driver reluctance to routinely charge vehicles as a major factor and urged fleets to put in place a robust strategy to ensure charging is easy and educate drivers about the need to keep the vehicle charged.
