1.7 billion for e-mobility: BMW expands in US

1.7 billion for e-mobility
BMW expands in America

10/19/2022, 7:40 PM

Munich carmaker BMW is expanding into the United States, investing $1.7 billion in its South Carolina plant. A supplier is also building a factory for battery cells nearby, especially since electric cars are to be made there.

BMW is investing $1.7 billion in its Spartanburg plant and a new battery factory to build electric cars in the US. CEO Oliver Zipes also announced that Japanese cell manufacturer Envision AESC is building a battery cell factory in the region to supply BMW. The annual capacity of this battery cell factory is 30 GWh.

By 2030, BMW wants to produce at least six fully electric SUV models in Spartanburg. In production, the group has announced that a billion dollars will be invested in a plant in the US state of South Carolina. BMW is building an assembly center for high-voltage batteries in nearby Woodruff for $700 million.

Envision AESC will build a new battery cell factory in South Carolina to supply BMW with the next generation of lithium-ion battery cells, as Zipps said in Spartanburg. BMW said it was “an important step in strengthening the BMW Group’s regional supply chains. The locally operated battery cell factory, coupled with the expansion of e-vehicle production in the US, will result from new supply chains, new networks for subcontractors and new jobs. This will benefit the entire region,” BMW said.

Max: Build battery cells on site

The carmaker wants to buy battery cells where production is based and has already announced four cell factories in Europe and China. For this, orders in the tens of billions were awarded to partners CATL and EVE Energy. BMW doesn’t have its own cell factories because the technology is evolving so fast that it can be a barrier to innovation for a small car manufacturer in terms of the sums required. Mercedes-Benz opened a battery factory for its SUV plant in Alabama in March and Envision announced a partnership with AESC to build a cell factory in the US.

Batteries for the BMW X3 plug-in hybrid are currently manufactured at the Spartanburg plant. Nearly 70,000 electrified cars were produced there last year. BMW employs more than 11,000 workers in Spartanburg and can build 450,000 vehicles a year.