BMW’s future Neue Klasse range of electric vehicles will be powered by exciting battery technology. The automaker is reportedly developing an advanced lithium-ion battery pack that will provide a 30% increase in range compared to the company’s current battery packs for electric vehicles. Automotive News reports that the German luxury car brand is developing Gen 6 battery packs at the BMW Group Battery Center of Excellence in Munich. It also said the new battery cells have a cylindrical shape, changing the way battery packs are designed.
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The 6th generation battery pack enables BMW to ditch the current prismatic cells. This new design allows for the battery pack to be mounted directly into the EV’s frame. This not only improves the vehicle’s chassis rigidity and ride quality, but also contributes to a 50% cost savings. The report further claims that the time it takes for these batteries to recover from 10% to 80% has been reduced by 30% compared to current BMW battery packs.
The new batteries are said to use more nickel and silicon and less cobalt. The cathode in the battery has 50 percent less cobalt, while the anode has 20 percent less graphite. The new batteries also use recycled cobalt, nickel and lithium and use renewable energy to manufacture the batteries, the report said.
BMW claims that the new battery pack will promise a significant increase in energy density. Additionally, the new design will allow automakers to put more cells into the pack. With the Gen 6 battery pack, as the automaker claims, it integrates the cylindrical battery cells directly into the vehicle as part of the body. The automaker claims the main challenge will be finding the right compromise between stiffness and flexibility.
The automaker’s goal is to go fully electric in the coming years, and the Neue Klasse architecture will play an integral role in that strategy. BMW plans to build several electric crossovers based on the platform by the middle of this decade. These EVs are expected to be powered by new 6th generation battery packs.
First published date: December 7, 2022 at 11:38 AM CST
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