A REPORT revealed by Reuters this week says China’s EVE Vitality Co. will provide BMW with cylindrical-style battery cells for its Neue Klasse (New Class) electrical automobiles.
The battery cells, which share the same design to these utilised by Tesla, will probably be put in in BMW EVs from 2025 onwards, with Guangdong-based EVE saying it has signed contracts to be BMW’s major provider of battery cells in Europe.
Neue Klasse fashions will embrace premium mid-size fashions equivalent to the three Collection which is able to characteristic new structure that helps the location of bigger, cylindrical battery cells.
Tesla began manufacturing new bigger format 4680 cylindrical battery cells – denoting 46mm in diameter and 80mm in size – from this yr. It mentioned the batteries are cheaper to provide and supply better vary than its 2170 cells.
It’s understood that EVE’s cylindrical batteries are related in dimension to these utilized by Tesla.
EVE is ramping as much as produce a brand new manufacturing facility in central China to provide its new batteries as a better variety of clients transfer to large-format cylindrical batteries and away from prismatic cells.
China’s CATL can be on account of begin supplying batteries to BMW from 2025. Reuters says it expects these batteries can even be a large-format cylindrical kind.
BMW has current battery contracts with corporations together with CATL, EVE Vitality, Samsung SDI and Northvolt.
The information comes simply weeks after BMW introduced that it was trialling a brand new dual-chemistry battery with know-how start-up Our Subsequent Vitality (ONE).
ONE is integrating its range-extending Gemini battery pack right into a BMW iX SUV to find out if the know-how can ship a real-world driving vary of as much as 965km – or round 325km greater than mannequin’s manufacturing unit declare.
The pack marries a base lithium iron phosphate battery with separate nickel and cobalt modules. ONE says the chemistry mixture is designed for lengthy vary functions and that it has already confirmed the know-how in a Tesla Mannequin S, which travelled 1210km on a single cost in December final yr.
The BMW iX will give additional proof of the idea and is backed by BMW’s i Ventures enterprise capital arm which led ONE’s $US65 million ($A94.3m) funding spherical final October.
In the meantime, BMW’s Neue Klasse automobiles will utilise a brand new EV-only platform (versus the at the moment utilised CLAR platform) the producer says will permit it to provide higher, devoted electrical automobiles. The primary two fashions are anticipated to be electrical variations of the three Collection and X3 and can possible be named i3 and iX3 respectively.
GoAuto understands the automobiles will initially be assembled at BMW’s Debrecen plant in Hungary, alongside CATL’s forthcoming battery facility, and at its homebase in Munich, Germany, earlier than a 3rd facility comes on-line in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, in 2027.
BMW has mentioned beforehand that fifty per cent of its vary will probably be battery electrical by the top of the last decade, however that it’s going to proceed to supply combustion and hybridised automobiles, primarily in rising markets.
