BMW has reportedly signed a big deal worth several billion euros with the SVOLT Energy subsidiary of Chinese Great Wall, which specializes in batteries, to provide no less than 90 GWh of capacity.
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. This is often the strategy when automakers choose their battery suppliers for their electric vehicles. And if one were needed, here is new proof with BMW which has just secured an agreement to obtain batteries from a new and third battery supplier: SVOLT Energy.
As a reminder, BMW had already announced that it would call on CATL and Eve Energy in September 2022 to supply the cells that will equip its emission models. So calling on a new supplier is rather a surprise. Especially since with SVOLT Energy, the Bavarian manufacturer would sign its biggest deal.
A deal worth more than 12 billion euros
In reality, if the conditional is still in order, it is because neither BMW nor SVOLT Energy has yet confirmed this agreement. But the information was nevertheless leaked in several Chinese media, notably 36 kr which specifies that the deal was already signed last July.
It is in this same media that we learn the amount of the transaction: 13 billion dollars, approximately 12.3 billion euros at the current exchange rate. SVOLT Energy, which is a subsidiary of the Chinese giant Great Wall Motors, would therefore be more important than for the two previous suppliers since in terms of capacity, we are apparently talking about 90 GWh. Knowing that BMW is seeking to secure a total of 160 GWh, this leaves the remaining 70 GWh to be shared between CATL and Eve Energy.
Cobalt-free batteries in BMWs?
If in the absence of confirmation from BMW and SVOLT Energy we do not know exactly the battery technology covered by this new agreement, it would however seem that it is for the start of production by 2027. And according to the media CnEVPostSVOLT Energy would dedicate two production lines for its batteries just to BMW.
As a reminder, SVOLT had already communicated that it dedicates almost half of its workforce to research and development on cobalt-free batteries. The company would even be the first to be able to mass produce such battery technology. Additionally, last December, SVOLT Energy presented a new battery capable of offering a range of 1000 km on one charge.
New Class from 2025
While waiting to know more, we know that BMWs will be equipped with batteries from CATL and Eve Energy from 2025. And we also know and above all that this will involve cylindrical lithium batteries, offering very good energy density (+ 20%), and replacing those with prismatic cells.
These are also the ones that will equip future models based on the Neue Klasse platform. If we are impatiently awaiting the new BMW i5, in which we were able to ride at the last Munich show, and which will be on our roads in the coming months, we are obviously talking about the future BMW 3 Series which will be the first to be truly based on Neue Klasse.
It is in 2025 that we will move from Generation 5 models to Generation 6 at BMW, which will offer an 800 Volt charging architecture, allowing charging up to 300 km in just 10 minutes. BMW’s goal? Increasingly increasing the number of electric vehicles sold: 25% in 2025, 33% in 2026 and 50% in 2030.