BMW has completed construction of the central part of its battery plant in Bavaria

The construction of the central production building of the BMW Group's new high-voltage battery assembly plant in Lower Bavaria has taken twelve months. According to the plan, already in June the assembly of production facilities can begin there, the press service of the company reported.

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The central supply hub of the new plant is the "Energy Centre". The approximately 10,000 square metre building also houses the plant's fire brigade with vehicles, facility management, workshops and a service centre. Two large transformers will be installed in the building, connected to new 110 kilovolt power lines from a substation being built by Bayernwerk Netz GmbH. Cooling systems and heat pumps have already been installed in the energy centre, which will maintain a stable temperature regime in the future.

These systems utilise heat from production and air compressors to heat the buildings in winter. The necessary pipes and cables are currently being laid. In parallel, a pumping station and filter are being built to distribute rainwater collected on the plant site for the company's toilets. Drinking water is required exclusively for the needs of catering, social and sanitary facilities. The direct assembly of high-voltage batteries does not require the use of water.

The wastewater pumping station at the northern end of the plant site is the lowest point of the entire facility. It will be located seven metres below the surface and will connect the assembly plant directly to the Irlbach wastewater treatment plant via a sewage pipeline almost three kilometres long from 2026.

The new facility in Lower Bavaria will house one of the world's five new assembly plants for sixth-generation (Gen6) high-voltage batteries. In parallel with Irlbach-Straskirchen, the BMW Group is building modern assembly plants in Debrecen (Hungary), Shenyang (China), San Luis Potosi (Mexico) and Woodruff near Spartanberg (USA). The company is following the principle of "Local for Local", which means producing major components for future electric vehicles of the "Neue Klasse" family close to the respective vehicle assembly plant. In this way, existing locations are strengthened and new jobs are safeguarded and created.

All five global production sites for high-voltage batteries are currently under construction. Series production will start this year in Debrecen, Hungary. These high-voltage batteries will be installed in the first "Neue Klasse" production vehicle, the new BMW iX3. The world premiere of this model will take place at the IAA Mobility trade fair in September.

And while the "Neue Klasse" have not yet become production cars, BMW is training artificial intelligence to find defects during production. A pilot project has started at the Regensburg car assembly plant.

Source: BMW