BMW eyes cylindrical battery cells for a new class of EVs from 2025

BMW is planning to go for cylindrical battery cells for its electric vehicles that the premium automaker intends to bring in 2025. BMW will be manufacturing these battery cells with the help of partners namely CATL and EVE Energy. BMW is focusing on creating battery cells for EVs which will take less charging time and also give a user an extended driving range. With this move, BMW is following Tesla as the latter has planned to use its 4680 cylindrical battery in its EVs.

BMW shared that it has placed multibillion-euro orders with battery manufacturers, CATL and EVE, to manufacture these battery cells at four factories in China and Europe. The Bavarian automaker said it also is seeking partners to build two more factories in the United States and Mexico.

These new batteries from BMW will have more nickel and silicon and less cobalt. More nickel and silicon will increase the energy density up to 20 per cent and will also get the batteries charged at a faster pace that is up to 30 per cent along with a 30 per cent rise in range.

In an earlier report, EV battery maker CATL had announced that it would build a cylindrical battery production facility in Hungary which is the company's first factory in Europe and also the biggest in the continent with an annual capacity of 100-gigawatt hours. CATL, a couple of months ago, also unveiled a new EV battery that claims to offer more than 1,000 km on a single charge. The battery maker also claimed that this new battery called Qilin is at least 13 per cent more powerful than the one being planned by Tesla.

(With inputs from Reuters )

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