BMW Group introduced it’s investing $1.7 billion within the US. The cash will go towards constructing a brand new battery cell manufacturing unit and readying the automaker’s South Carolina plant to provide electrical autos.
Some $1 billion will go to upgrading the corporate’s Spartanburg facility, the place the corporate plans to provide six electrical autos by 2030. The opposite $700 million will go to constructing the brand new battery plant in close by Woodruff, South Carolina. The brand new manufacturing unit, which Envision AESC will construct, will cowl 1 million sq. ft and create 300 new jobs.
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The battery manufacturing unit will produce the automaker’s new spherical lithium-ion battery cells. BMW guarantees 30 p.c extra vary with the brand new batteries whereas decreasing costs by as much as 50 p.c, which BMW believes is required to broaden EV adoption. The brand new cell expertise is 20 p.c denser and will enhance cost instances by 30 p.c. Their manufacturing may even cut back CO2 emissions by as much as 60 p.c on account of utilizing recycled materials and renewable vitality sources. The brand new plant can have an annual capability of as much as 30 gigawatt-hours.
BMW’s Spartanburg manufacturing unit already produces battery modules for the BMW X3 and X4 plug-in hybrids. Final yr, BMW constructed practically 70,000 electrified fashions on the web site. BMW established the manufacturing unit 30 years in the past and has been producing autos at it for 28. It employs greater than 11,000 folks and might produce as much as 450,000 vehicles yearly. It presently makes 11 fashions, with BMW XM manufacturing beginning on the plant later this yr.
BMW is simply the most recent automaker to announce investing within the US. Final week, Honda and LE Vitality Resolution introduced the 2 would construct a 40-GWh battery plant in Ohio, which may value as much as $4.4 billion. In September, Toyota introduced a $2.5 billion funding for its US battery manufacturing facility.
BMW has already introduced that 4 further battery cell factories shall be inbuilt Europe and China, every with an annual capability of 20 GWh. Because the trade shifts, we anticipate extra automakers to announce investments designed to bolster EV manufacturing.
