BMW Group will depend on Rimac for the provision of batteries for its next-generation electrical autos below a brand new partnership introduced on Tuesday.
Full particulars will probably be introduced at a later date, however the two corporations in a joint assertion stated the long-term partnership will see Rimac ship high-voltage batteries to BMW Group for EVs ranging from the second half of the last decade.
The timing factors to the batteries possible ending up in BMW’s upcoming Neue Klasse vary of EVs, although the batteries might also be for fashions from fellow BMW Group manufacturers Rolls-Royce and Mini.
The deal is a serious coup for Rimac which till now has solely been supplying expertise for area of interest functions, together with its personal line of electrical hypercars. Rimac, whose founder Mate Rimac began the corporate virtually 20 years in the past by changing a 1984 BMW 3-Collection into an EV, is establishing new manufacturing strains for the batteries. The corporate stated it will take up a good portion of its headquarters, often called the Rimac Campus, situated close to Zagreb, Croatia.
Artist’s impression of Rimac’s new headquarters to inbuilt Zagreb, Croatia
BMW Group can be constructing its personal battery crops and already sources batteries from different suppliers, together with China’s CATL which has additionally been tapped to provide the brand new cylindrical cells that BMW will use in its Neue Klasse EVs. The cylindrical cells (as a substitute of the present prismatic cells), along with different enhancements, ought to end in a vary enchancment of 30% over BMW Group’s present battery expertise, in accordance with the automaker. Charging instances are additionally anticipated to be considerably improved.
The primary Neue Klasse car, regarded as a redesigned iX3 based mostly on the design of the Imaginative and prescient Neue Klasse X idea (proven essential), will probably be constructed at a plant below building in Debrecen, Hungary, beginning in 2025. Neue Klasse autos may even be constructed at present BMW crops in Germany and China, beginning in 2026, and in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, beginning in 2027.