BMW Group expands e-drive production network: Start of battery component production in Leipzig and Regensburg
April 30, 2021 Press Release
BMW Group now producing high-voltage batteries
and battery components at three locations in Germany alone:
Dingolfing, Leipzig and Regensburg +++ Less than a year from
decision to start of production in Leipzig and Regensburg +++
Production of battery components for BMW Group’s fifth generation of
fully-electric vehicles
Munich/Leipzig/Regensburg. The BMW
Group is launching production of battery components at its plants in
Leipzig and Regensburg and expanding its e-drive production network.
It has been less than a year since the decision was made to expand
production capacity for e-drives in Germany. BMW Group Plant Leipzig
will launch series production of battery modules on Monday, 3 May
2021, while BMW Group Plant Regensburg began coating battery cells
for high-voltage batteries in April 2021. High-voltage batteries
will also be produced in Regensburg from 2022. “We expect at least
50 percent of the vehicles we deliver to our customers worldwide to
be fully electric by 2030,” said Michael Nikolaides, Senior Vice
President Production Engines and E-Drives. “And we are
systematically expanding our production network for electric drive
trains in response to this.”
The company is investing more than 250
million euros in its Regensburg and Leipzig locations alone to
supply the BMW Group’s growing number of electrified vehicles with
high-voltage batteries. High-voltage battery components will be used
in production of the BMW iX* and BMW i4, both of which will be
released onto the market shortly. The production systems are highly
flexible and will also supply battery components for other BMW Group
electrified vehicles in the future.
“We are increasing capacity at existing
locations and developing capabilities at others. In this way, we can
make the most of our associates’ expertise and experience and offer
them long-term, secure jobs,” Nikolaides added. The BMW Group is
investing a total of around 790 million euros in expanding
production capacity for drivetrain components for electrified
vehicles at its Dingolfing, Leipzig, Regensburg and Steyr locations
between 2020 and 2022.
Leipzig is the BMW Group’s pioneer plant
for electromobility and has been building the BMW Group’s first
fully-electric vehicle, the BMW i3*, since 2013. Now, the location
will also produce electric drivetrain components.
“We are continuing on this track with
the launch of battery module production and further enhancing the
plant’s future viability for electromobility,” confirmed Hans-Peter
Kemser, Plant Director of BMW Group Plant Leipzig. “Plant Leipzig
will play an important role in supplying the growing number of BMW
Group electrified vehicles with battery components.” The successor
to the MINI Countryman, scheduled to come off the production line in
Leipzig from 2023, will be released onto the market with an electric
drive train. “The expertise and experience gained by staff at our
location over the years can be put to good use. Construction of the
battery module lines will make a major contribution to long-term job
security,” emphasised Kemser.
From May 2021, the 10,000 sq. m.
production area previously reserved for the BMW i8 will be used for
manufacturing battery modules. Production will get underway with 80
employees working in battery module production; by the end of the
year, there will be a staff of around 150. The company will invest
more than 100 million euros in the initial phase of battery module
production at the Leipzig location between 2020 and 2022.
However, the production line for battery
modules that just ramped up is only the beginning: The company has
already decided to further increase capacity for battery module
production at its Leipzig location. A second production line will
come on stream in 2022. This will ensure the company has sufficient
volumes to meet growing demand for drivetrains.
BMW Group Plant Regensburg already
produces two electrified models – plug-in hybrid variants of the BMW
X1* and BMW X2* – and will start building the fully-electric BMW X1
in 2022. The site's e-mobility expertise and experience will now
also be used in production of battery components and high-voltage
batteries.
The first of four coating lines for
fifth-generation battery cells went on stream in April 2021,
occupying a production and logistics area of more than 40,000 sq. m.
“Regensburg has made a successful start to production of electric
drivetrain components – this is an important milestone in our
transformation,” according to Frank Bachmann, Plant Director of BMW
Group Plant Regensburg. The three other systems will ramp up in
stages between now and the end of 2021 to supply the growing volumes
needed for the BMW Group’s fully electric vehicles. Up until now,
battery cells have been coated at BMW Group Plant Dingolfing and the
BMW Brilliance Automotive Plant Powertrain in Shenyang, China.
Coating increases the battery cell’s
mechanical robustness and thermal conductivity. This helps improve
insulation and cooling of the fifth-generation e-drive’s even more
powerful battery cells. From 2022, the plant in Regensburg will
produce high-voltage batteries from battery modules. A total of 100
employees already work in battery component production at the
Regensburg site; by the end of 2022, there will be more than 300.
The company will invest more than 150 million euros in ramping up
production of battery components and high-voltage batteries between
2020 and 2022.
The BMW Group has a clear mission to
ensure the “greenest electric vehicle comes from the BMW Group”,
starting in production. The BMW Group already sources only green
power for its manufacturing locations worldwide.
The BMW Group’s energy goals are geared
towards the long term. The company reduced its emissions per vehicle
produced by more than 70 percent between 2019 and 2006.The aim is to
lower these CO2 emissions by another 80 percent by 2030. This means
the BMW Group will have reduced its CO2 emissions from production to
less than ten percent of what they were in 2006.
A further corporate objective is to
reduce CO2 emissions in the supplier network by 20 percent by 2030.
At the same time, the BMW Group has reached an agreement with its
suppliers that they will only use renewable green power for
producing fifth-generation battery cells.
Production of high-voltage batteries can
be broken down into two stages: Battery modules are produced in a
highly automated process. The lithium-ion cells first undergo a
plasma cleaning, before a specially developed system coats the cells
to ensure optimal insulation. Next, the battery cells are assembled
into a larger unit, the so-called battery module. The BMW Group
obtains its battery cells from partners who produce them to the
company’s exact specifications. The BMW Group uses different battery
cells, depending on which provides the best properties for each
vehicle concept.
The battery modules are then installed
in an aluminium housing, together with the connections to the
vehicle, and the control and cooling units. The size and shape of
the aluminium housing and the number of battery modules used differ
according to the vehicle variant. This ensures the high-voltage
battery is optimally adjusted to the vehicle.
The high-voltage batteries and battery
components needed for all BMW and MINI electrified vehicles come
from the company’s own battery factories in Dingolfing, Leipzig and
Regensburg in Germany, as well as from Spartanburg (USA) and
Shenyang (China). The BMW Group has also localised production of
high-voltage batteries in Thailand, at its Rayong plant, and is
working with the Dräxlmaier Group for this. Munich is home to the
e-drive pilot plant and the Battery Cell Competence Centre, where
the BMW Group is conducting a full analysis of battery cell value
creation processes and refining technology for its production
processes.
The company produces electric motors at
the Competence Centre for E-Drive Production in Dingolfing and at
BMW Group Plant Landshut. BMW Group Plant Steyr builds the housing
for the highly integrated fifth-generation e-drive.
With the BMW Group’s electro-offensive
now in full swing, increased production capacity is needed for
electric drivetrain components. Thanks to intelligent vehicle
architectures and a highly flexible production network, the BMW
Group will have about a dozen fully-electric models on the roads
from 2023. The BMW i3*, MINI Cooper SE* and BMW iX3* already on the
market will be joined later this year by the BMW iX* and BMW i4.
Between now and 2025, the BMW Group will increase its sales of
fully-electric models by an average of well over 50 percent per year
– more than ten times the number of units sold in 2020. By the end
of 2025, the company will have delivered a total of around two
million fully-electric vehicles to customers. Based on current
market forecasts, the BMW Group expects at least 50 percent of its
global sales to come from fully-electric vehicles in 2030. In total,
over the next ten years or so, the company will release about ten
million fully-electric vehicles onto the roads.
This means the BMW Group is
strategically on track to reach the European Union’s ambitious CO2
reduction targets for 2025 and 2030 as well.
CO2 EMISSIONS & CONSUMPTION.
BMW i3: Fuel consumption combined:
0.0 l/100 km; power consumption combined: 16.3-15.3 kWh/100 km WLTP;
CO2 emissions combined: 0 g/km.
BMW i3s: Fuel consumption combined:
0.0 l/100 km; power consumption combined: 16.6-16.3 kWh/100 km WLTP;
CO2 emissions combined: 0 g/km.
MINI Cooper SE: Fuel
consumption combined: 0.0 l/100 km; power consumption combined:
17.6-15.2 kWh/100 km WLTP, CO2 emissions combined: 0 g/km
BMW iX3: Fuel
consumption combined: 0.0 l/100 km; power consumption combined:
17.8-17.5 kWh/100 km WLTP, CO2 emissions combined:
0 g/km.
BMW iX xDrive50: Power
consumption combined: < 21 kWh/100 km in the WLTP test cycle; CO2 emissions
combined: 0 g/km (data is provisional and based on forecasts)
BMW iX xDrive40: Power
consumption combined: < 20 kWh/100 km in the WLTP test cycle; CO2 emissions
combined: 0 g/km (data is provisional and based on forecasts)
BMW X1 xDrive25e: Fuel
consumption combined: 1.9-1.7 l/100 km WLTP, power consumption
combined: 15.4-15.0 kWh/100 km WLTP; CO2 emissions
combined: 43 g/km.
BMW X2 xDrive25e: Fuel
consumption combined: 1.9 l/100 km WLTP; power consumption combined:
13.7 kWh/100 km WLTP, CO2 emissions combined: 43 g/km. |
