BMW is set to enhance its production capabilities at the Landshut plant in Germany with a €200 million investment, aiming to boost the manufacturing of electric vehicle (EV) components. The expansion focuses on producing central housings for the electric drive unit of the Neue Klasse, BMW’s forthcoming series of electric models.
The new facility, featuring three levels and two production lines, will utilize the innovative “Injector Casting” technique. This process improves mechanical properties of parts, reduces energy use, and cuts carbon emissions by lowering casting temperatures. Additionally, it diminishes resource consumption by requiring fewer materials.
This development is expected to increase annual production capacity for aluminium housings of fifth and sixth-generation electric drives by approximately 30%. These drives are integral to BMW’s current models, such as the iX3, i4, i5, i7, and iX, and will also be used in the upcoming Neue Klasse vehicles slated for release from 2025.
BMW highlights that the sixth generation will maintain the design of its electric motors, which do not use rare earths and combine the benefits of different motor types without their drawbacks.
This latest investment brings BMW’s total expenditure on its largest component factory to about €1 billion since 2020, with nearly half directed towards EV production expansion. Thomas Thym, Head of BMW Group Plant Landshut, stated that these advancements bolster the plant’s expertise in both component production and new technology development, ensuring future flexibility.
Additionally, BMW has recently purchased a 30,000 square meter plot next to the Landshut plant for potential future expansions, though its specific use is yet to be decided.
The company is also progressing in other areas of its EV production chain. In Dingolfing, other components are assembled into the housings from Landshut, and planning permission for battery assembly in Lower Bavaria was recently approved, paving the way for the assembly of battery packs for the Neue Klasse at BMW’s Bavarian vehicle plants.
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