BMW, one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, invests in electric vehicles just like other companies. The company, which brings together its vehicles that can play an important role for a sustainable future, has recently announced that it will make a design change for the batteries of the new class vehicles called ‘Neue Klasse’. This indicated that BMW would use cylindrical cells instead of the existing prismatic cells.
According to the company, the change, which will be reflected in the vehicles to be released in 2025, will provide some advantages in automobiles. It is stated that electric cars equipped with these batteries called ‘Gen6’ will experience a 30% increase in range, improvements in charging speed, and decrease in production costs. In addition, it is aimed to achieve a 60% reduction in carbon emissions in the production process.
BMW will not produce vehicles over 1000 km range
Thomas Albrecht, the head of the Efficient Dynamics program, which stands out in BMW sustainability, also made statements about batteries. Albrecht pointed out that new electric vehicles will come with a 30% increase in range, and stated that even if possible, the range would not exceed 1,000 kilometers. That is, new BMW vehicles will not have a range of more than 1,000 km.
So, why won’t the vehicles have a range of more than 1,000 kilometers?
In a statement on the subject, BMW simply says that there is no need for such long range vehicles: “Gen6 batteries will provide 30% more range than current Gen5 batteries. However, we will not go beyond the 1000 km range, although we can do this. We don’t think such long ranges are necessary.” We can say that this makes sense considering that internal combustion cars, mostly diesel engines, can travel 1,000 km before refueling.
The company’s new batteries, which will be 20% lighter than the batteries used today, will be produced in partnership with Chinese CATL and Eve Energy. It is also expected that new BMW cars with Gen6 batteries will support 270 kW charging and significant progress will be made in this regard. Finally, it is stated that the batteries can maintain 80% of their performance even after 10 years of use and will be long-term.
Gen6 batteries will be available to all brands within the BMW Group, such as Rolls Royce and Mini, starting from 2025. BMW’s first vehicle included in Neue Klasse will be an all-electric 3-series.