BMW invests millions in battery cell centre

In a move to get 700km EV range, the BMW Group will invest 200 million euros (NZ$343.6m) in a new BMW Group Battery Cell Competence Centre.

About 200 staff will work at the Munich centre, due to open in 2019.

It’s expected to have a major role in BMW’s fifth-generation electric drivetrain, likely to be released in 2021, in which the electric motor, transmission and power electronics are combined in a new and separate electric-drive component.

These won’t require rare earth metals, the company says.

The centre’s specialist departments will analyse cell design and technology, create prototypes, focus on cell chemical composition and use of different materials, study cell behaviour in extreme conditions and during charging and rapid-charging, and evaluate cell sizes and forms.

It may contract out battery cell production and expects to meet a predicted demand for several hundred thousand electrified vehicles in 2025.

“We will focus on further improvements in battery performance, lifespan, safety, charging and also costs. We will set the benchmark for the industry,” BMW AG management board member Klaus Fröhlich says at the centre’s ground-breaking ceremony.

BMW expects to have 12 all-electric cars by 2025, with the Mini leading the way in 2019.

The company says it’s well on track to sell 100,000 electrified vehicles worldwide by the end of the year.