BMW Secures Long-term Battery Cell Needs

BMW is forging ahead with electromobility and deepening its existing business relationships with battery cell manufacturers CATL and Samsung SDI.

The original CATL order volume of four billion euros announced in mid-2018 will now be increased to 7.3 billion euros (contract duration from 2020 to 2031), with 4.5 billion euros for the BMW Group and 2.8 billion euros for the Chinese production site of the BMW Brilliance Automotive joint venture in Shenyang. BMW is the first customer of the CATL battery cell plant currently under construction in Erfurt, Germany.

The manufactorer has also signed a long-term supply contract for its fifth-generation electric drive trains with its second battery cell supplier, Samsung SDI. The contract, with value of 2.9 billion euros, extends from 2021 to 2031.

The company will source the cobalt needed as a key raw material for cell production directly from mines in Australia and Morocco and make it available to CATL and Samsung SDI. The same applies to lithium, which BMW will also source directly from mines, including from Australia. This gives the company full transparency over where both raw materials come from. Compliance with environmental standards and respect for human rights have the highest priority. BMW's fifth-generation electric drive trains from 2021 on will also be produced entirely without using rare earths.

the company opened its Battery Cell Competence Centre in Munich. The aim of the competence centre is to advance battery cell technology and introduce it into production processes. The company invested a total of 200 million euros in the location, which is set to create up to 200 jobs. The production of battery cell prototypes makes it possible to analyse and fully understand cell value creation processes.