BMW has announced the acquisition of a 105-hectare plot in Straßkirchen and Irlbach, Lower Bavaria, for its battery assembly plant. The plant will be responsible for providing high-voltage batteries to all of BMW’s car plants in Bavaria for the “New Class” electric car model series, with production set to begin in 2026. However, battery cell production is not planned, and instead, BMW will be sourcing cells from Hungary, where it previously commissioned CATL and Eve Energy to build two gigafactories each.
Following Tesla’s lead, BMW will be using round cells for its “New Class” vehicles from 2025, and it plans to build the first models based on the New Class in a new plant in Debrecen, Hungary. The corresponding CATL plant is currently being built in Debrecen, and a dedicated high-voltage assembly line is being built there to supply the vehicle plant with battery packs.
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Frank Weber, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG responsible for Development, expressed his excitement about the switch to the newly-developed sixth generation of their lithium-ion cells, stating that it will increase energy density by more than 20%, improve charging speed by up to 30%, and enhance range by up to 30%.
Construction for the battery assembly plant is set to begin in early 2024, with the plant expected to go online in 2026. While BMW plans to use only half of the plot in the first phase of construction, saving the rest for expansion, residents have already started collecting signatures against the plant.
