BMW has announced that it is investing 200 million euros for a new Battery Cell Competence Center in Munich that will focus on creating new battery cells for BMW’s next-generation electric powertrains. The center is expected to open in 2019, but the big news is that BMW predicts that its next-generation system will have a driving range up to 435 miles.
BMW is already developing the fifth generation of its electric drivetrain, which will arrive in 2021. One of the big changes with the new system is that the electric motor, transmission and power electronics are combined in a new and separate electric-drive component. With its compact design the new component takes up significantly less space than the three separate components used in previous generations. Thanks to the new, more powerful batteries that BMW is developing, the the new electric drivetrain extends the range of pure battery-electric vehicles to up to 435 miles. Its plug-in hybrid models will be able to travel up to 62 miles.
Lastly BMW says that the design of the new electric drivetrain component and upgraded modular battery will make it easier to fit in all of BMW’s models.
Source: BMW
