New battery testing centre: BMW Group to invest more than 100 million euros in Wackersdorf site by 2026

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+++ Site Manager Christoph Peters: โ€œBMW Groupโ€™s Wackersdorf
location set to become a major facilitator for the transformation
towards electromobilityโ€ +++ Building constructed in the 1980s as
reprocessing facility to symbolise Wackersdorf siteโ€™s electric
future +++ย 

Wackersdorf. Signalling its strong commitment to the
Wackersdorf location in Upper Palatinate and as part of its continuing
e-mobility ramp-up, the BMW Group is investing around 100 million
euros between now and 2026 in a new battery testing centre that will
be integrated into the siteโ€™s existing building structures. The first
deliverables for BMW Group development activities in the field of
high-voltage batteries will go into regular operation as early as
mid-2024. From then on, across a total area spanning 8,442
m2, high-voltage batteries and other electric powertrain
components for future BMW Group models will be put through their paces
very early in development โ€“ well before the start of production.

โ€œThe BMW Groupโ€™s Wackersdorf location is set to become a major
facilitator for the transformation towards electromobility,โ€ confirms
Site Manager Christoph Peters, adding that the new battery testing
centre will broaden the foundation of the BMW Group site in
Wackersdorf. โ€œIn addition to supplying our overseas plants, cockpit
production and, from 2024, door production for Rolls-Royce models,
this will become Wackersdorfโ€™s fourth main area of activity. This, in
turn, strengthens our locationโ€™s future viability.โ€

The around 100-million-euro investment will mainly be focused on
complex test bench technology and the upgrades to the buildingโ€™s
existing infrastructure needed for their operation. Hall 80, located
on the plant grounds, is currently being remodelled for this purpose:
This building, which was originally constructed in the 1980s for the
reprocessing facility planned at the time, has quite a history. โ€œNow,
this storied building will become a symbol of our plantโ€™s electric
future,โ€ says Peters.

Structural work is already underway, including installation of a new
floor slab for the building. In mid-2024, with commissioning of the
first section, so-called โ€œbattery testersโ€ will be put into service.
From the outside, these resemble large, rather insignificant
refrigerators โ€“ however, on the inside, they make use of cutting-edge
high tech. Here, battery cells will be tested round the clock, early
in their development. Essentially, the electrical performance of
individual battery cells is determined during charging and discharging
under different conditions. This allows use cases that will be
relevant for customers later to be simulated, long before a vehicle
under development drives on the road. Parallel testing of several
hundred battery cells will initially be possible. Once the ramp-up is
complete, testing capacity will reach several thousand.

In the final phase from 2025 onwards, the testing centre will also be
used to validate the BMW Groupโ€™s battery-electric vehicles prior to
the official launch of series production and ensure the required
premium quality. This includes subjecting the batteries to vibration
and shock tests, for instance, using so-called โ€œshakersโ€ โ€“ highly
complex testing devices of which there are currently only a few across
Europe. Complex driving patterns, including charging and discharging
cycles, can also be simulated in endurance tests. Tests like these are
essential for type approval of electric vehicles. In some cases,
country-specific tests must also be completed. Capacity for such tests
in the free market is currently limited โ€“ which is why the BMW Group
is creating its own capacity with the new battery testing centre in Wackersdorf.

If you have any questions, please contact:

BMW Group Corporate Communications
Dominik
Hรคmmerl, Communications Wackersdorf
Cell phone: +49 151 6060
3889, Email: Dominik.Haemmerl@bmw.deย 

Saskia Graser, acting head of Communications Regensburg and
Wackersdorf
Cell phone: +49 151 6040 3232, Email: Saskia.Graser@bmw.de

Media website: www.press.bmwgroup.com

Email: presse@bmw.de

ย 

BMW Group Plants Regensburg and Wackersdorf
The
BMW Group has viewed itself for decades as the benchmark for
production technology and operational excellence in vehicle
construction โ€“ including at its locations in Regensburg and
Wackersdorf.
The BMW Group vehicle plant in Regensburg has been
in operation since 1986 and is one of more than 30 BMW Group
production locations worldwide. A total of up to 1,000 vehicles of the
BMW 1 Series, BMW X1 and BMW X2 models come off the production line at
Plant Regensburg every workday โ€“ destined for customers all over the
world. Different types of drive trains are flexibly manufactured on a
single production line โ€“ from vehicles with internal combustion
engines to plug-in hybrids, to fully-electric
models.
High-voltage batteries for the electric models built in
Regensburg are also produced locally, in direct proximity to the
vehicle plant. They are assembled at the electric component production
facility, which opened in 2021 at the Leibnizstrasse
location.
BMW Innovation Park Wackersdorf also belongs to the
Regensburg site. The 55-hectare campus built in the 1980s was
originally intended as a nuclear reprocessing facility. The BMW Group
has located its cockpit production there, as well as its parts supply
for overseas plants. In addition to BMW as the largest employer,
several other companies are also based at Innovation Park Wackersdorf.
A total of around 2,500 employees work there.
The BMW Group core
staff at the Regensburg and Wackersdorf locations in eastern Bavaria
is made up of around 9,000 employees, including more than 300 apprentices.

www.bmwgroup-werke.com/regensburg/de.html

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