Mini will switch to battery-only cars by 2030

Mini will switch to battery-only cars within a decade as parent company aims to go all-electric by 2030

  • BMW has announced it intends to only sell electrically-powered Mini from 2030
  • Oxford car-maker will launch last internal combustion engine vehicles in 2025
  • Move from BMW follows similar choice to go electric by Ford, Jaguar and Volvo 


The Mini is to go all-electric by 2030, bosses at parent company BMW will announce tomorrow.

The Oxford-based car-maker will launch its last vehicle using internal combustion engines in 2025.  BMW predicts that two years from then half the cars it sells will emit zero emissions. 

By 2030 they will account for 100 per cent of production.

Only electric Minis are expected to be on sale from 2030, with the Oxford-based car-maker set to launch its last internal combustion engine-powered vehicle in 2025. Pictured: The Electric Mini, or Mini SE

The Oxford plant employs more than 4,000 workers who produce around 1,000 Minis a day, a small fraction of them electric. 

In December BMW announced a deal with Great Wall Motor to make Minis in China from 2023 ‘to meet the rising demand for emission-free driving both in China and in the other global markets’.

This caused concerns over the longer-term future of the Oxford site. 

However, insiders point out that the plant is the first of the BMW Group in Europe to have an integrated production line for electric and petrol vehicles.

It is hoped this will ensure a relatively seamless switch to electric-only. BMW has also invested heavily in the UK, with an engine plant at Hams Hall in the Midlands. 

There has even been speculation that the company may take over the soon-to-be vacant Honda site in Swindon.

The Mini plant in Oxford employs 4,000 workers who produce around 1,000 Minis a day, insiders believe the move to electric could be a good sign, as the factory is the first of the BMW Group in Europe to have an integrated production line for electric and petrol vehicles

The Mini plant in Oxford employs 4,000 workers who produce around 1,000 Minis a day, insiders believe the move to electric could be a good sign, as the factory is the first of the BMW Group in Europe to have an integrated production line for electric and petrol vehicles

The move from BMW follows similar decisions to go electric by Ford, Jaguar and Volvo. 

Bentley also says it will pursue greater ‘electrification’.

Britain has brought forward its ban on new petrol and diesel cars from 2040 to 2030 and Europe is moving in the same direction.