BMW Group to invest more than €2bn in next-generation battery plant

BMW Group will invest more than two billion euros (£1.73bn) by 2025 in a new Hungarian facility that will create the firm’s next generation of electric batteries.

Located at the firm’s existing vehicle production site at Plant Debrecen, the battery assembly facility will create an additional 500 jobs. At the plant, the next-generation of BMW battery cells will be assembled into a housing, which can then be integrated into the underbody of an electric vehicle.

Milan Nedeljković, member of the board of management of BMW AG for production, said: “In Debrecen, we are building the most advanced plant in the world. With our iFACTORY, we are setting new industry standards for vehicle production. Our investments underline our systematic approach to implementing e-mobility.”

BMW says that these new batteries will improve range by 30 per cent while making charging speeds 30 per cent faster, too. The German manufacturer has also focused on making the entire process as low-carbon as possible, with battery cells created with a proportion of secondary material, or raw materials that have already been mined.

Combined with renewable power for the production of battery cells, BMW says that the overall carbon footprint of battery cell production can be reduced by up to 60 per cent.

Markus Fallböhmer, senior vice president of battery production at the BMW Group, explains: “The BMW iFACTORY is also about ensuring short distances for logistics. The close link between battery assembly and vehicle production is part of our strategy.”