BMW Gears Up for Electric Vehicle Production

Billboard on the front of Plant 02.20, the BMW Group’s “Competence Centre for e-drive production.” (Image courtesy of BMW Group.)

The BMW Group Plant in Dingolfing, Germany is reportedly gearing up for higher future demand for electric drive trains with some extensive remodelling and expansion measures. According to the company, a “mid-double-digit-million-euro” amount will be channelled into structural measures and equipment to produce batteries for the all-electric MINI.

Equipment for manufacturing battery modules will be set up, along with a battery assembly line, in approximately 65,000 sq feet of space in the west wing of the Dingolfing component plant 02.20. The first systems are currently being installed and will be tested sequentially.

“With the launch of new models and growing demand for electrified vehicles, we will be stepping up production of electric components significantly over the next few months and years,” said Roland Maurer, head of Planning and Production E-Powertrain at the BMW Group.

The fully electric MINI will be built in Oxford, UK, starting in late 2019. Batteries for the car will come from the new battery production facility in Dingolfing, with electric engines from the neighbouring BMW Group Plant in Landshut. As a result, the cars are being branded as having “English apparel and a Bavarian heart.”

Module production for BMW Group plug-in hybrid vehicles. (Image courtesy of BMW Group.)

From 2020, the plant in Dingolfing will also produce fifth-generation electric drive systems for the BMW Group’s future electrified vehicles, like the BMW iX3, the BMW i4 and the BMW iNEXT. The remodelling and preparatory measures needed for this are already underway. Additionally, in recognition of its growing importance and key role within the production network, the component plant 02.20 will now be renamed the “BMW Group Competence Centre e-drive Production”.

Plant 02.20, one of the oldest sections of the Dingolfing plant cluster, has produced batteries and electric motors for BMW Group plug-in hybrid models since 2015. It was the headquarters of the BMW Group’s global spare parts distribution for many decades. Parts distribution was gradually relocated to new warehouses in Wallersdorf and Bruckberg a few years ago, opening up space for the new component plant. More than 300 people are currently employed there.

For more on EVs, check out Will Your Electric Car Save the World or Wreck It?