BMW has hit the start button on electric motor production for the Neue Klasse-based electric vehicles. During the next 12 months or so, a pre-series phase will take place at the Steyr factory in Austria. Once the next-generation iX3 reaches the assembly line, series production of the all-new e-motors will commence.
To make it happen, the BMW Group had to build a new assembly hall at the Steyr facility. They’ve been working on it since September 2022. It’s part of a wider €1 billion investment at the Austrian site until the end of this decade. This electric motor is not only assembled there but all the main components are locally produced as well. The rotor, stator, gearbox, and inverter are manufactured before being incorporated into a single unit created in-house as well.
In the initial phase, BMW Group Plant Steyr will make about 25 electric motors per week. However, the output will increase over the coming months before series production starts next fall. The iX3 crossover leads the way, a Neue Klasse-based electric crossover to be built at the company’s new factory in Debrecen, Hungary. In 2026, an i3 sedan will enter production in Munich. At least six NK-based vehicles will go into production by 2028.
The new electric motors will grab their juice from Gen6 batteries with round cells. BMW has promised next-gen EVs will have 30% more range than the current crop that uses Gen5 prismatic cells. It has pledged to boost energy density by 20% and shorten charging times by 30%. The new wave of zero-emission models from the luxury brand will also support bidirectional charging.
At the end of July, BMW announced full details about where it will build cylindrical cells: Debrecen (Hungary), Irlbach-Straßkirchen (Germany), Shenyang (China), Woodruff (US), and San Luis Potosà (Mexico). It’ll be interesting to see whether BMW will put these new batteries in other EVs besides the ones riding on the NK architecture. We’re hearing CLAR-based iX5, iX6, and iX7 are all coming this decade.
However, there hasn’t been an official confirmation yet about these three electric SUVs, let alone the type of batteries they’ll use. We do know BMW wants to make at least six electric models in Spartanburg by 2030. The site in South Carolina only makes SUVs, from the X3 through the X7, plus the XM.
Who knows, maybe the iX5, iX6, and iX7 will sit on the CLAR platform with batteries sourced from Woodruff and/or San Luis PotosÃ. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Source: BMW
