BMW joint venture launches iX3 battery production in China
In China, the joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) has opened another battery centre at the Tiexi location, where the batteries for the purely electric BMW iX3 are now being produced.
The new battery centre is supposed to complement the High-Voltage Battery Center opened in 2017. Transport distances will be correspondingly short when BMW iX3 production starts this month at the neighbouring BBA plant in Dadong.
In the future, the batteries produced at the centre will also be installed in Teixi itself where the plant is currently being expanded. Here, the iX3 is to be assembled from 2022 onwards as well as at Dadong. For the expansion of the Teixi plant, BMW is relying on the flexible production lines on which combustion engines, plug-in hybrids and electric cars can be assembled on a single line. This production approach is also increasingly being used at the company’s German plants, which were converted to flexible production during the summer break. This way, BMW wants to be able to produce models with different drive technologies in the respective mix according to demand on a single production line.
Battery production involves the assembly of purchased cells and BMW does not currently produce cells on a larger scale. Both the battery cells developed by BMW as well as the iX3 produced by CATL are the “fifth generation” of BMW battery cells. This technology will also be used in the i4 and in the series version of the iNext. The high-voltage batteries are flexibly scalable in terms of performance and energy content and can therefore be used in different vehicle concepts and segments.
BMW Board Member for Production Milan Nedeljković emphasised the importance of China as a “production and innovation location” for the BMW Group at the opening ceremony. “The expansions of the BBA plants in Tiexi and Dadong are well underway,” said Nedeljković. “And we are preparing for future growth: With this new Battery Center, we more than double the capacity of our local battery production in China.”
In addition to Teixi, the electric drive production competence centre in Dingolfing is also being prepared to produce the new high-voltage batteries, as reported. These batteries assembled in Dingolfing will then be used in the i4 and iNext manufactured in Germany.
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