The BMW Group is now offering customers even broader scope for personalising analysis of their driving stats in the My BMW App and MINI App. The latest update allows drivers to view their personal carbon footprint for the first time. Contained within the range of My Trips driving statistics, the new insight reflects how connected car data can assist with growing sustainability concerns.

“Our usage research shows: The information in My Trips is one of the most popular features in the app,” says Dirk Wiedmann, Senior Vice President Sales Steering and Strategy, Digitalization. “We are now expanding this successful function with carbon footprint calculation, giving our customers simple and straightforward access to sustainability-related information via a popular and widely used channel.”

The personal carbon footprint function has been designed with a technology-open approach and is available for vehicles with combustion engines, as well as plug-in hybrid and fully electric models. At launch, this feature will be rolled out across selected models in various European countries*. Calculation of the personal footprint is based on two central sets of figures.

• Emissions from vehicle use: My Trips analyses the routes the driver has completed and uses the energy consumed in the process to work out the CO2 emitted. To this end, CO2 equivalents are calculated using data from the International Energy Agency (IEA). For vehicles with combustion engines, the app calculates the amount of CO2 emitted based on the fuel consumed. For battery-electric vehicles, it shows the emissions generated when using the average national energy mix – and also tells the driver how high emissions would be by comparison if green energy was used.
• Emissions from vehicle production: These are emissions generated during the manufacturing process. Emissions are recorded from the processing of raw materials, procurement of materials, transport logistics and the production of the model at hand. The BMW Group already sets out the emissions figures for numerous models in the form of Vehicle Footprint Reports. These are calculated according to recognised standards for life cycle assessments and certified by the TÜV Rheinland agency. They can also be downloaded from the BMW Group website.

(Pic: Courtesy BMW Group)