The BMW Group has announced a significant milestone at its Component Plant 02.20 in Dingolfing, Lower Bavaria. Over the past decade, the facility has produced more than 1.5 million electric motors, one million high-voltage batteries, and ten million battery modules. In the early 2010s, the plant began its transition to focus on electromobility, starting with around 200 employees producing electric motors and high-voltage batteries for BMW’s early plug-in hybrids and fully electric models. The fifth generation of these components started production in 2020.
Since 2015, BMW Group has invested over one billion euros in Plant 02.20, establishing it as the Competence Centre for E-Drive Production. This investment has enabled the creation of approximately 15 production lines for battery modules, electric motors, and high-voltage batteries. Currently, more than 2,500 employees work at the plant, many of whom have transitioned from other vehicle production areas. The site manufactures a wide range of cars – currently models of the 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 Series, as well as the all-electric BMW iX.
BMW’s Dingolfing, Germany plant celebrates its 50th anniversary last year, as it was first introduced to build the E12-generation 5 Series back in 1973. However, that isn’t the only milestone celebrated at Dingolfing in 2023. The plant officially built its 12 millionth car, which just so happened to be its most futuristic, the BMW iX. Dingolfing isn’t BMW’s most productive plant. With around 282,000 cars built every year, it’s still shy of BMW’s much newer Spartanburg, South Carolina plant. However, it’s still trucking along, pumping out about 1,600 cars per day, many of which are either hybrids or fully electric vehicles.
To meet the increasing global demand for electrified vehicles, BMW Group has established a network of e-drive production facilities in Leipzig, Regensburg, Spartanburg (USA), and Shenyang (China). For the new sixth generation of high-voltage batteries, which will be used in models of the Neue Klasse starting in 2025, BMW is setting up additional locations in the US, Mexico, China, Hungary, and Irlbach-Straßkirchen in Lower Bavaria. These sites are positioned near BMW vehicle plants to follow the “local for local” principle.
Dingolfing’s expertise will support the development of these new facilities. The plant is involved in skills development for the new facility in Debrecen and the high-voltage battery plant in Irlbach-Straßkirchen. Additionally, BMW’s engine plant in Steyr, Austria, which will produce the next generation of electric motors, will benefit from Dingolfing’s knowledge.
