BMW has announced that it is developing a new type of battery, in time to install it on what will be its first specific platform for electric vehicles, the Neue Klasse. The new batteries should be ready in 2025, simultaneously with the first trams designed on the new platform and, according to those responsible for the German brand, they will bring advantages in terms of autonomy, costs, recharging time and CO emissions.two????????
The German manufacturer, which already has a wide range of electric vehicles, continues to only use platforms that were born for models with a combustion engine, gasoline or diesel, already designed to be able to adapt to the installation of the package of batteries With the Neue Klasse, BMW hopes that it can finally be competitive in weight against the best competitors, in addition to guaranteeing more interior space for the same overall length and ensuring lower costs.
The development of the new batteries, called Gen 6 (the sixth generation of the brand’s accumulators), is led by Simon Erhard, a technician who told Automotive News that the new cells will have 30% more energy density, which will will increase autonomy in the same proportion, and will be 50% cheaper to manufacture, emitting 60% less COtwo???????? And by being associated with an 800 volt electrical system, instead of the traditional 400 V, they will be able to recharge 30% faster.
BMW’s Gen 6 batteries will go from prismatic to cylindrical
In addition to the type of battery, BMW also changes the type of cell, abandoning the binoculars it uses today, for cylindrical ones. These will always be 46 mm in diameter, but their height can alternate between 95 or 120 mm, depending on whether they are intended for sedans or SUVs, which have greater ground clearance. Despite being involved in the definition and development of the chemistry -which will continue to be lithium-ion-, everything indicates that BMW will continue to acquire the cells from external suppliers, in this case Envision Automotive Supply Corporation (AESC), which previously belonged to Nissan. being sold to the Chinese group Envision.
As AESC is not among the most renowned in the production of accumulators, it is not impossible that BMW will be forced to invest to control the manufacture of cells, since it already plans an assembly line for packages of batteries in Hungary, in Debrecen, with a view to proceeding in the same way in the North American factory in Spartanburg. Control of the cells is even more important as BMW plans to launch a series of new trams, for which it will also renovate its main factory in Munich.
Source: Observadora
