BMW has just announced a new €200 million investment over 4 years in a battery cell research centre in Munich. The premium car maker is busy electrifying its whole range and plans to offer 25 full electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2025. A dozen of those will be full electric vehicles (EV).
BMW has been an early adopter in the EV scene, the most visible proof being the Project i cars, including the i3 town car and i8 sports car. It has sold 78,000 electrified cars in the first 10 months of 2017.
Today’s investment will spawn a new ‘battery cell competence centre’ due to open in early 2019 and illustrated below. It will specialise in the chemical reactions in battery cells and will create 200 new jobs, according to BMW.
R&D chief Klaus Fröhlich said: ‘We will be concentrating all our in-house expertise along the battery-cell value chain at our new high-tech competence centre. International experts working in the new development labs and facilities will conduct important research to refine cell chemistry and cell design. We will focus on further improvements in battery performance, lifespan, safety, charging and also costs. We will set the benchmark for the industry.’
