BMW announced an investment of $1.7 billion to manufacture electric vehicles in the USA as a part of its efforts to boost EV production in the USA further.
BMW’s Announcement
The German automaker also declared investing $1 billion in its plant in South Carolina’s Spartanburg as initial preparation for building electric vehicles. Another $700 million will be spent on the new battery assembly establishment near Woodruff. The German auto giant added that the entire project would create more than three hundred jobs.
History to be Created
Henry McMaster, South Carolina Governor, said that the capital investment by BMW will make history as the largest one in the state to date. The Group chairman of the company also admitted the single investment to be the biggest.
The Automotive Energy Supply Corporation of China’s Envision group will build a plant for battery cells in South Carolina to supply BMW, and the plant’s annual production capacity will be up to 30 Gigawatt hours.
BMW aims to build six vehicles, at least by 2030 in the USA, which would be fully electric vehicle models.
Chairman’s Concern
BMW chairman Oliver Zipse expressed his concerns about the new law regarding tax credits which, according to him, could affect the EV industry’s development.
BMW’s Target
BMW targets to increase energy density by over 20% with its new battery and improve the speed of charging.
Building four new battery cell plants in China and Europe was already on the cards for BMW to meet the requirements. The location of the sixth plant would depend on the market demands, stated the announcement by BMW.
The battery cell plants will have up to 20 Gigawatt hours of capacity annually.
BMW has been making vehicles in South Carolina for thirty years, with an annual production of up to 450,000 cars, and has over 11,000 employees. It has already built over six million vehicles there.
