BMW bets on cylindrical battery cells for new class of EVS

BERLIN: BMW will power its new class of electric vehicles to be released in 2025 with cylindrical batery cells made in six factories by partners including China’s CATL and EVE Energy as the carmaker looks to speed up charging and extend driving range.

The German carmaker has already placed multibillion-euro orders with CATL and EVE to produce batery cells at four factories in China and Europe, it said on Friday, adding it was seeking partners able to build two more factories in the United States and Mexico.

BMW said it would sign contracts for up to 20 gigawat hours of capacity at each of the six plants.

CATL said in a separate statement on Friday that it would have two of its plants supply BMW with bateries that have the same diameter as Tesla’s 4680 cells.

The German automaker didn’t say how many bateries it plans to procure from EVE and CATL.

By adopting cylindrical cells, BMW is breaking from the prismatic cells it has so far used in its bateries, following the path chosen by Tesla with its 4680 cylindrical batery.

BMW’S new generation of bateries will use more nickel and silicon and less cobalt, leading to a 20 per cent increase in energy density, 30 per cent faster charging and a 30 per cent longer range than previous generations.

A spokesperson for CATL, which has supplied BMW for a decade and is looking at potential battery factory sites in the United States, told Reuters in May it would begin supplying cylindrical cells to BMW from 2025, but the carmaker declined to comment at the time.