Despite a rocky year for EV sales in the U.S., BMW is taking a massive step forward by bringing battery production stateside. The automaker will start mass production of the new iX5's high-voltage battery pack right here in the U.S. starting in December, at its newly opened Plant Woodruff in South Carolina, BMW said Monday.
Rather than relying on pre-assembled or imported packs from suppliers, BMW is bringing battery production in-house, a multi-billion-dollar effort that only a handful of automakers in the U.S. have attempted. It's more capital intensive upfront, but it's a long-term strategic bet that could help BMW build out a local supply chain, insulate itself from geopolitical shocks, and eventually bring costs down. Since the iX5 is built at the nearby Plant Spartanburg, BMW also stands to save on logistics and transportation costs by keeping battery and vehicle production close together.
Gallery: BMW Plant Woodruff Battery Production
“With Plant Woodruff, we are further expanding our footprint in South Carolina and strengthening the close integration of battery and vehicle production,” Robert Engelhorn, the president and CEO of BMW Manufacturing said in a statement. “This creates the ideal foundation for the next generation of fully electric BMW X models assembled at Plant Spartanburg.”
