Rimac to supply BMW with EV batteries
Croatian firm to supply batteries for the next-generation of electric BMWs due in 2025
The influence of Mate Rimac on the electric vehicle world continues, following the announcement that Rimac Technology – the specialist engineering division of the Rimac empire – has agreed a partnership with BMW to produce batteries for the German manufacturer’s electric vehicles.
It is, according to 36 year old Rimac ‘the largest and most ambitious project the company has undertaken to date.’ This, remember, is a company that also owns Bugatti and counts Porsche and Hyundai as the two largest shareholders after its founder.
The partnership will see the recently opened Rimac Campus in Zagreb develop and supply BMW with a next generation of battery pack for its forthcoming generation of all-electric vehicles, previewed by its Vision Neue Klasse concept cars. This will require Rimac to invest further in its manufacturing facility and install new automated production lines.
BMW currently sources its batteries for its electric vehicles such as the i4 M50 and i5 M60 from five global manufacturing sites, and has already committed to building new factories for its next-generation batteries in China, Mexico, the US and Hungary. This is on top of a new facility in Germany that will assemble batteries for BMW EVs built in its car plants in Munich, Dingolfing and Regensburg.
The announcement from the two companies didn’t include any financial details or volumes Rimac will supply BMW with, nor did it go into detail as to the type of batteries Rimac will be producing on behalf of the German firm.
BMW has described the batteries due to be fitted to the Neue Klasse range from 2025 as unique, using cylindrical cells that are smaller and more space efficient than the rectangular prismatic cells more commonly used today. It’s not been confirmed if Rimac will be responsible for the manufacture of these new types of battery cells.
