BMW to produce battery modules in Leipzig from 2021

Market: Metals
24/09/20

German automaker BMW is further expanding its infrastructure for electric vehicle (EV) production, aiming to start large-scale production of battery modules at its Leipzig plant from 2021.

The company plans to invest more than €100mn ($116.4mn) in the Leipzig site by 2022, anticipating a steady increase in sales of EVs in the coming years. Leipzig is the production site for BMW's i3 — its first all-EV. Until now, high voltage batteries for all EVs made by BMW and Mini have been produced at three other sites — Dingolfing in Germany, Spartanburg in the US and Shenyang in China.

The company typically buys battery cells from third parties such as Northvolt before assembling them into larger units or modules.

BMW also recently doubled production capacity for high voltage batteries at its Brilliance Automotive site in China. And it halted production at its Munich plant over the summer in order to adapt the facility to produce its fully electric i4 model, having already completed the installation of a new automated lithium battery assembly facility and converted equipment so that it can produce the EVs alongside its diesel, petrol and hybrid models.

Furthermore, in July BMW opened a new facility in Dingolfing with eight production lines to build electric powertrain components, planning to expand the capacity with a further four lines over the coming years. It expects to produce drivetrains for more than 500,000 EVs/yr at Dingolfing by 2022.

BMW sold 61,652 EVs in January-June, up by 3.4pc year on year and in contrast to a 23pc drop in its overall vehicle sales. It expects that by 2021, one in four BMW Group vehicles sold in Europe will be fitted with an electric drive, progressing to one in three by 2030. BMW aims to have 25 electrified models on the road in 2023, half of which will be fitted with electric drives.

By Ellie Saklatvala

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