The BMW Group is expanding its production network for the next generation of high-voltage batteries significantly, with five facilities on three continents to produce sixth-generation high-voltage batteries. Across the globe, the principle of “local for local” will apply. This helps the BMW Group increase the resilience of its production.
The Neue Klasse will be the first to incorporate the all-new cylindrical cells. These offer improved energy density, charging times and range. They will be assembled in new facilities located as closely as possible to vehicle plants.
Assembly plants for sixth-generation high-voltage batteries are currently under construction in Irlbach-Strasskirchen (Lower Bavaria); Debrecen (Hungary); Woodruff (near Plant Spartanburg in the US); Shenyang (China); and San Luis Potosí, Mexico. With the “local for local” approach in place, production will be able to continue even when unexpected political or economic events occur.
In addition, short distances between battery and vehicle plants will reduce the carbon footprint of car production. The BMW Group is also upgrading its existing sites and therefore securing and creating jobs.
The first Neue Klasse vehicles will be produced at the BMW Group’s new plant in Debrecen, starting in 2025. High-voltage battery and vehicle manufacturing will launch in parallel. With the training center in Debrecen open since autumn 2023 and the communications center in use since February 2024, a large number of employees are already at work in their offices at the site. The production team, meanwhile, are preparing for their new jobs at various locations across the BMW Group production network. This will ensure a smooth start to pre-series production and a successful series launch in the second half of 2025. Currently, the final buildings are being completed. They will be handed over to the technologies by the end of the year.
The BMW Group is also going to manufacture high-voltage batteries for Neue Klasse models in Germany—specifically in Irlbach-Straßkirchen, in Lower Bavaria. The new facility will supply sixth-generation high-voltage batteries to German car plants. The BMW Group was granted permission to build the new high-voltage battery assembly plant in April 2024 and erected the first of pillar for the production hall in late June 2024. The production building is scheduled to be enclosed with facade and roof by the end of the year. The citizens of Straßkirchen had previously voted in favor of the BMW Group coming to their area, with a clear majority in the referendum of September 2023.
From 2026, Neue Klasse vehicles will also be made by BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) in Shenyang, China. Here, too, the sixth-generation high-voltage batteries required for the cars will be manufactured locally. The production hall was completed in November 2023 after a construction time of only 21 months. The installation of plant and machinery has been underway since March 2024. Preparing for the launch of the Neue Klasse, the BMW Group has also set up its largest R&D network outside Germany, with facilities in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang and Nanjing.
At San Luis Potosí in Mexico, additional production capacity is being established for series production of the Neue Klasse to start in 2027. Construction of the new high-voltage battery assembly plant started in May 2024 and will comprise more than 80,000 square metres of production space when completed. The integration of battery assembly is not all that’s changing at Plant San Luis Potosí: the bodyshop is set to grow to more than 90,000 square metres in total, while vehicle assembly and logistics spaces will expand by nearly 10,000 square metres.
The BMW Group is the first premium OEM to manufacture fully electric cars and high-voltage batteries in Mexico. Additionally, the company plans to expand the photovoltaic systems within the plant and thus double the power generated from photovoltaics. This is intended to generate more than 20 percent of the current electricity demand directly on the plant premises in the future.
Electromobility is also advancing in South Carolina. BMW Group Plant Woodruff will cover an area of about 93 hectares and consist of a technology building, ancillary structures, an energy center, a staff restaurant, a fire department and a Talent Campus. It will create more than 300 new jobs with the BMW Group. When construction reaches completion in 2026, Woodruff will assemble high-voltage batteries for fully electric cars made in nearby Plant Spartanburg. The ground-breaking ceremony for the first building in Woodruff—the training center—was in June 2023.
Prototype battery cells like the ones in the Neue Klasse, launching in 2025, are already being made at the BMW Group’s Cell Manufacturing Competence Center (CMCC) in Parsdorf, just east of Munich. The CMCC was built to complement the Battery Cell Competence Center (BCCC) in the north of the city, where development work is carried out. The CMCC scales up the best product for series production. Product and process are uniquely interlinked by the close collaboration across divisions, between Development, Purchasing and Production. The BMW Group operates further pre-series plants and pilot lines for future high-voltage batteries in Munich and the nearby towns of Parsdorf and Hallbergmoos.
Source from Green Car Congress
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