When the total enlargement of the take a look at centre is accomplished on the finish of 2025, particular person battery cells, full high-voltage batteries and different e-drive parts for future BMW Group fashions can be put via their paces at a really early stage on an space of greater than 8,000 sq. metres.
Corridor 80 on the plant web site has been transformed for the take a look at centre since final yr and the constructing was upgraded with a brand new flooring slab, amongst different issues. The constructing was not chosen by probability: because the corridor was constructed again within the Eighties for the deliberate reprocessing plant (WAA), the outer partitions are 100 centimetres thick. This ensures a relentless temperature of 15 levels inside – and thus, in keeping with BMW, “good take a look at circumstances.”
The battery testing know-how that has now been put into operation there can take a look at battery cells lengthy earlier than they’re prepared for collection manufacturing. “Primarily, {the electrical} efficiency of particular person battery cells is decided throughout charging and discharging beneath totally different circumstances. This enables use instances that can be related for patrons later to be simulated, lengthy earlier than a car beneath growth drives on the street,” BMW wrote.
“Parallel testing of a number of hundred battery cells will initially be doable. As soon as the ramp-up is full, testing capability will attain a number of thousand battery cells,” defined Venture Supervisor Dr Felix Schmidt-Stein. Within the remaining part from 2025 onwards, the testing centre may also be used to validate the BMW Group’s battery-electric automobiles previous to the official launch of collection manufacturing and make sure the required premium high quality. “For instance, this contains subjecting the batteries to vibration and shock exams,” added Schmidt-Stein. “We are able to additionally simulate advanced driving patterns in endurance exams, together with charging and discharging cycles. Checks like these are important for sort approval of electrical automobiles.”
“Commissioning of the primary part of the brand new battery testing centre signifies that the BMW Group’s Wackersdorf location is poised to change into a serious facilitator within the transformation in direction of electromobility,” added Web site Supervisor Christoph Peters. “The brand new battery testing centre offers our web site a broader basis. We at the moment are including a fourth pillar in Wackersdorf – along with supplying our abroad crops, cockpit manufacturing and door manufacturing for Rolls-Royce fashions.”
bmwgroup.com