BMW aims to double sales of fully-electric cars, catch up with Tesla

German carmaker BMW aims to double its sales of fully-electric vehicles this year as its races to comply with CO2 emissions targets and chase market leader Tesla Inc.

Including plug-in hybrids, BMW aims for a 50 percent increase in electric vehicle sales this year.

BMW globally sold close to 193,000 EVs, consisting of fully electric and plug-in hybrid, last year, resulting in a 31.8 percent increase. It's EV sales in Europe accounts for 15 percent of its total, helping it meet the EU's emissions targets last year.

Tesla sold close to 500,000 fully electric vehicles in 2020.

The BMW Group produces 13 EV models, either fully electric or plug-in hybrids, for 74 markets.

BMW plans to almost double its lineup of electrified vehicles to 25 models, with more than half of them fully electric, by 2023.