BMW’s electrical future is taking form on the outskirts of the Mexican metropolis of San Luis Potosi, some 450 miles south of the U.S. border.
The five-year-old plant there’s the place BMW will make its faster-charging, longer-range and extra high-tech next-generation of battery-powered autos, dubbed the “Neue Klasse,” or “New Class.” That begins in 2027. However preparations are already underway to develop the plant, add battery-pack manufacturing and begin pumping out the brand new and important fashions. I toured the sprawling facility and spoke with its president and CEO, Harald Gottsche, to get the lowdown on how Neue Klasse prep goes and what challenges lie forward.
“As a result of that is our Gen6 battery manufacturing, it’s the newest know-how that we’ve got. A lot of innovation. A lot of complexity,” Gottsche informed InsideEVs. “So we put together intensively already as we speak for that.”
BMW Plant San Luis Potosi
At this time, BMW Plant San Luis Potosi pumps out some 450 2 Sequence coupes, 3 Sequence sedans and M2 coupes per day for the U.S. and international markets. It makes each plug-in hybrid and combustion fashions. Neue Klasse manufacturing, in the meantime, will begin at a brand new plant in Debrecen, Hungary in late 2025 with a yet-to-be-revealed SUV mannequin. (That is additionally the mannequin that may kick off Neue Klasse manufacturing in Mexico, BMWBlog studies.) The EVs can even be inbuilt China for that market.
To convey EV manufacturing to San Luis Potosi, BMW plans to develop its meeting and logistics space by round 100,000 sq. toes and its physique store (the place a automotive’s primary construction is made) by some 200,000 sq. toes. The pièce de résistance is a brand new 861,000-square-foot constructing for assembling battery packs that may energy Neue Klasse autos.
Proper now, that facility is merely a skeleton of metal beams. When operational, it is going to obtain BMW-designed, cylindrical cells from AESC, a battery firm that’s constructing a brand new manufacturing facility in South Carolina to produce a number of BMW crops. In a while, the plant can even be equipped by the Chinese language battery agency CATL, a BMW spokesperson stated. BMW says the brand new cells will increase vitality density by 20% and charging speeds by 30%.
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BMW already sells a number of EVs—together with the i7, i4, i5 and iX within the U.S. market—and has seen extra success on that entrance than different legacy producers. The Neue Klasse vehicles will debut a new-and-improved EV-only platform that could be key for retaining BMW aggressive within the fast-moving EV trade. That is particularly key for the Chinese language market, the place BMW and different European manufacturers are dealing with stiff competitors from rising homegrown rivals.
‘99.99999% Perfection’
One of many massive manufacturing challenges, Gottsche explains, stems from the Neue Klasse’s novel battery pack design. Somewhat than make a battery out of a number of smaller modules, because it does for its present EVs, BMW will assemble tons of of battery cells straight into a big pack. By adjusting what number of cells a pack will get and the way they’re organized, BMW can produce packs with completely different capacities and voltages.
That design helps save price and house, and eliminates a manufacturing step. Nevertheless it additionally introduces complexity and leaves little room for error. The stakes are particularly excessive given {that a} battery pack is by far an EV’s most costly single element.
BMW Cylindrical battery cells
Each cell must be welded to the pack completely, Gottsche stated. Just some unhealthy welds can render a whole pack unusable if these spots can’t be mounted on a second go.
“You could have one probability to transform it consistent with a second weld spot. If that fails once more, this pack of 800 cells is scrap,” he stated. That’s 1000’s of {dollars} down the drain.
For that motive, BMW is investing in progressive welding strategies and methods to identify points on the meeting line. It’s additionally introducing “a totally new stage of high quality management” for cell suppliers and for its personal processes, Gottsche stated. 100 unhealthy elements per million (PPM), a top quality benchmark for different parts, received’t lower it for batteries, he stated.
“In the event you have a look at the battery pack, that could be very costly. You must go means beneath that,” Gottsche stated. “You actually must go to 99.99999% of OK elements. In any other case, it’s important to pay for lots of scrap.”
BMW Plant San Luis Potosi
Evidently, Gottsche desires to keep away from the sorts of course of snafus that dogged the manufacturing of Basic Motors’ new “Ultium” battery packs for months on finish.
To ensure all the things goes as easily as attainable come 2027, he has despatched round 70 engineers, technicians and logistics specialists to assist launch Neue Klasse manufacturing in Hungary, and in addition to soak up as a lot as they’ll in regards to the new structure and processes. Preproduction simply started there, and Gottsche stated the main focus is now on ironing out the problems that “you do not see after 50 vehicles, however perhaps after 1,000.” One other 30 of his staff are deployed at Parsdorf, Germany, at BMW’s battery analysis and improvement facility.
By the second 12 months of Neue Klasse manufacturing, the San Luis Potosi battery plant will be capable to crank out roughly 140,000 battery packs yearly throughout two shifts, a BMW consultant stated. As for car manufacturing, the plan is to maintain the one, snaking meeting line at San Luis Potosi, however add new sections for the Neue Klasse vehicles.
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Why Mexico?
Why make the Neue Klasse in Mexico within the first place? BMW realized after the availability chain havoc of the pandemic years that it must have a producing presence wherever it sells vehicles, Gottsche stated.
“We’ve got seen that two years in the past with the worldwide provide disaster that you just can’t absolutely depend upon international provide chains,” he stated.
BMW Plant San Luis Potosi
Plus, the plant is massive, new and was conceived from the start with a wide-open “innovation space.” That turned out to be the proper spot for a sprawling new battery meeting facility. The plant additionally operates with a watch in the direction of sustainability, Gottsche stated, so zero-emission vehicles are match. The power will get 13% of its vitality from an onsite photo voltaic array and plans to double that.
The choice wasn’t all about profiting from U.S. EV tax credit that favor vehicles made in North America, he stated. Which will have been a smart transfer, as key EV insurance policies within the U.S. may change radically relying on who assumes the presidency come January. Former President Donald Trump, for his half, has stated he’d levy steep tariffs on vehicles made in Mexico. Whether or not any of that may come to go stays to be seen, nevertheless it does go away BMW—and different producers—planning their subsequent strikes fastidiously.
“Frankly, we’ve got to watch out, as a result of this funding general is an 800 million euro funding,” Gottsche stated, referring to the EV-related plant expansions. “And short-term insurance policies are laborious to rely investments on.”
Contact the creator: tim.levin@insideevs.com
