Construction of high-voltage battery assembly gets underway at BMW Group Plant San Luis Potosí

About two years after BMW Group starts manufacturing its next-gen EVs in Europe in late 2025, it will kick off the North American production of the first model. Well ahead of the SOP of these 'Neue Klasse' EVs, the company has started preparing for the assembly of their batteries.

BMW Group has two North American production sites, one in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, and one in Woodruff, USA. The company plans to commence Neue Klasse EV production in Mexico in 2027, and it has begun construction of a high-voltage battery assembly there. Spanning an area of over 80,000 m², the upcoming factory will be responsible for BMW Group’s future sixth-gen
batteries.

The future batteries will consist of round lithium-ion cells with a diameter of 46 mm and a height of 95 mm or 120 mm. They will have an increased nickel content and reduced cobalt content on the cathode side and higher silicon content on the anode side. Resultantly, the energy density of these cells will be more than 20% higher, and such an improvement should lead to a considerably lower weight.

Unlike the batteries of the current BMW EVs, the next-gen batteries
will be part of the body structure. Doing away with the cell module level will help engineers save installation space.

Operating at 800 volts, BMW Group’s next-gen batteries will allow charging at significantly higher rates, leading to up to a 30% reduction in the time required for a 10-80% charging session. Thus, while the current batteries take around 30 minutes, the next-gen batteries should take approximately 20 minutes. Moreover, it’ll be possible to offer a 30% improvement in the range. BMW Group isn’t aiming for a four-digit number, though, deeming it unnecessary, an
Autocar report citing Thomas Albrecht, Head of Efficient Dynamics, BMW, said in 2022.

San Luis Potosí will be among the six global production sites of BMW Group’s sixth-gen high-voltage batteries. The company has confirmed that it will manufacture the upcoming batteries in Debrecen, Hungary; Woodruff, USA; Shenyang, China; and Irlbach-Straßkirchen, Germany.

The Neue Klasse BMW EVs will pack a raft of new technologies and capabilities. In addition to ultra-fast charging support, they’ll feature Vehicle to Load (V2L), Vehicle to Home (V2H), and Vehicle to Grid (V2G) bidirectional charging functions, a new full-width head-up display called ‘BMW Panoramic Vision,’ a new multifunction steering wheel, and new BMW Drive.

BMW Group plans to start manufacturing Neue Klasse EVs in San Luis Potosí beginning with the upcoming mid-size SUV, which should replace the BMW iX3. The company will begin its production in Debrecen, Hungary, in late 2025 and then at the Mexican factory in 2027.

Previewed by the BMW Vision Neue Klasse X concept in March, this model will compete with the Audi Q6 e-tron, the Tesla Model Y, and the upcoming Mercedes EQC successor, expected to debut in 2025. In Germany, prices are expected to start somewhere in the €65,000-€70,000 range.

bmwgroup.com, autocar.co.uk