BMW Opens Centre For E-Drive Production For 500,000 EVs
BMW Group has officially opened its new Competence Centre for E-Drive Production at the Dingolfing manufacturing site in Germany.
Its production capacity was set for more than 500,000 electrified vehicles annually by 2022, with an option for more.
The new facility will supply the company with 5th generation E-Drives, which combines the electric motor, transmission, and power electronics in a central housing.
The first model with 5th gen E-Drive will be the BMW iX3.
The huge Dingolfing plant was already producing battery modules and packs since 2013 (starting with the BMW i3) and then also electric motors since 2015.
The site is able to produce everything necessary for EVs, from complete electric drive units, to battery modules and packs, and finally electrified versions of some models.
The total investment in the Competence Centre for E-Drive Production in Dingolfing is estimated to reach €500 million ($562 million) by 2022.
The number of employees dedicated to the electrification has increased from 600 to 1,000, and should further increase to 2,000 in the medium term.
"At the Competence Centre in Dingolfing, the BMW Group will produce electric powertrain components such as battery modules, high-voltage batteries and electric motors on eight production lines. Over the coming years, the company will set up four additional lines, which will boost the location’s production capacity significantly."
"In the next few years, the production area of the Competence Centre for E-Drive Production will be expanded to ten times the original size: from 8,000 square metres in 2015 to 80,000.
The number of employees will also be increased. In the first half of 2020 alone, the workforce grew from 600 to 1,000. Up to 2,000 employees will work in production of e-drives at the Dingolfing location in the medium term."
The second site of EV electric motor production is in Landshut, Germany.
Two BEVs (iNEXT and 7 Series BEV) coming
From 2021 Dingolfing will start production of the all-new, all-electric BMW iNEXT, along with conventional and plug-in hybrid 5 Series and 7 Series models, as well as a conventional 8 Series.
In the near future, the next generation of the BMW 7 Series will be produced in four versions, including gasoline, diesel, plug-in hybrid, and – for the first time – a fully-electric variant.
BMW battery suppliers
BMW has two lithium-ion battery suppliers:
The modules and packs are however assembled by BMW at four sites:
- Dingolfing, Germany
- in Spartanburg, USA
- in Shenyang, China, at the BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. (BBA) joint venture plant
- in Thailand, in partnership with the Dräxlmaier Group, one of its long-term automotive suppliers.
Production Of 273-Mile BMW iX3 Electric SUV To Start In Late Summer
BMW announced that preparations for the start of production of the all-electric BMW iX3 proceeding according to plan - "We are right on schedule".
Since mid-2019, the company produced 200 pre-production units and recently successfully concluded homologation tests for both China and Europe simultaneously (the North American launch is frozen).
"“This is the first time we have completed the entire homologation process for a fully electric model in China and Europe at the same time. The staff on our testing team mastered this unique challenge with tremendous dedication and efficiency,” said Arno Keller, head of Development BMW iX3. More than 340 hours of testing, including over 7700 kilometres of test drives, had to be completed within four weeks. "
Series production will start in late Summer 2020 in China, at the BMW Brilliance Automotive joint venture (BBA) for the global market.
The BBA Plant Dadong in Shenyang will produce iX3 alongside conventional X3.
The iX3 will be the first BMW's all-electric Sports Activity Vehicle (SAV), the first new all-electric car since the BMW i3, and the X3 will become the first BMW available as BEV, PHEV and ICE.
The technical data was not released, but BMW said that the preliminary WLTP range is around 440 km (273 miles).
BMW iX3 expected specs (preliminary data):
The iX3 is also the first BEV with fifth-generation BMW eDrive technology, which soon will be applied also in the upcoming BMW i4 and BMW iNEXT.
- range of more than 440 km (273 miles) WLTP
- 74 kWh battery pack (the available capacity) - NCM 811 lithium-ion cells supplied by CATL
- Energy consumption expected below 20 kWh/100 km (62 miles) WLTP
- Rear-wheel drive
- Electric motor peak output: 210 kW (286 hp) and 400 Nm
- expected up to 150 kW DC fast charging
BMW Preferred Flexibility But It May Soon Switch To Dedicated BEVs
Solutions good for the compliance BEVs, or low-volume, will not work well in the future, when BEV sales will be high.
According to media reports, BMW works council is not fully happy with the company's flexible platform approach of offering cars with various powertrains - from internal combustion engines, though hybrids and plug-in hybrids to all-electric.
The reason for that is a compromise of new all-electric cars in terms of efficiency, range, overall package, compared to a dedicated BEV approach.
BMW started with stand-alone EVs (i3 BEV and i8 PHEV) early, but then backed away to a flexible approach.In other words, employees are worried that BMW cars will not be fully competitive with stand-alone electric cars - like Tesla, to not search far.
"BMW should shift course and establish a technology platform just for electric cars, moving away from developing cars that can be fitted with either electric or combustion engines, the head of the influential works council said.
“Only with our own e-architecture can we fully exploit the advantages of an electric vehicle,” Manfred Schoch told Der Spiegel magazine."
On the other hand, we must note that BMW opted for a flexible solution to limit costs in times of high uncertainty of which type of powertrain will sell better. Depending on demand, they can virtually produce any volume of any type in the same plant.
It may pay off in the transition period, but obviously, once the all-electric car sales will increase to a high volume, justifying stand-alone models, it would be suicide to drag the ICE architecture and sacrifice the precious points of efficiency.
We believe that BMW simply assumed several years ago that it's not the right time yet. If they were wrong, BMW's BEVs will have a tough road ahead.
Anyway, at some point in the future, probably no more than 5-10 years from now, they will have to switch to stand-alone BEV models and dedicated BEV platforms.
Here's BMW Group's Position In The Plug-In EV Market: May 2020
During the first five months of 2020, 7.9% of total BMW Group car sales globally were plug-ins.
BMW Group (BMW and MINI brands), as in previous months, released an interesting set of global electromobility sales charts to show its market position within competition.
The car registration data for the first five months of this year comes from IHS Markit and concerns only passenger cars.
* As usual, the purpose of the presentation is to show the brand's position being higher than the industry average, but let's check what else we can learn from the new set of infographics.Electromobility In Germany.
Share In New Registrations By Brand.
During the first five months, BMW brand was the second most popular plug-in brand with a market share of 12%.
The biggest player is currently Volkswagen (17%), and, as you can see, the top four are all-German with Audi at 11% and Mercedes-Benz at 10%. The joint market share of those four brands recently improved by 2% points to 50% total.
Electromobility In Europe.
Share In New Registrations By Brand.
In Europe (most of Europe, to be precise), BMW is now on par with Volkswagen, as Tesla slightly declined to 9%. In fourth, is Renault with 9%.
Electromobility Globally.
Share In New Registrations By Brand.
Globally, BMW's share remains at 7%, equal to Volkswagen, but the clear market leader is only one - Tesla at 22%! However Tesla's share decreased noticeably from January-April.
BMW i3 Share In The Compact EV Segment Globally
BMW i3's share in the compact BEV segment this year is at 8% (it was over two times higher last year).
The most popular models are: Renault ZOE (28%), Volkswagen e-Golf (improved to 19%) and Nissan LEAF (down to 15%).
Electromobility By Country.
Share In The EV Segment. BMW Versus Market-Average.
Plug-in electric car share for the whole of the BMW Group is significantly higher than the industry average in many markets (no change here compared to previous months).
However, in the U.S., so far this year 4.5% of BMW Group cars were plug-ins, which is noticeably below the market average of 5.1%.
Electromobility By Country.
Share In New Registrations. BMW EV* Versus BMW ICE.
Finally, BMW Group share in the plug-in segment in particular markets is noticeably higher than the company’s share in the ICE segment, which means that the switch to electric brings a general gain of market share for the group (no change here compared to previous months).
The exception among major markets highlighted in the report is only the U.S. market.
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