BMW will invest EUR100m between now and 2026 in a new battery testing centre at its Wackersdorf site in Germany.

Operations begin in mid 2024.

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Site manager Christoph Peters said: “In addition to supplying our overseas plants, cockpit production and, from 2024, door production for Rolls Royce, [battery testing] will become Wackersdorf’s fourth main area of activity.”

Investment would be focused on complex test bench technology and necessary upgrades to the building’s existing infrastructure.

The company said testing of several hundred battery cells would initially be possible with capacity expected to reach several thousand.

In mid-2024, with commissioning of the first section, battery testers would be put into service.

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The electrical performance of individual battery cells would be determined during charging and discharging under different conditions.

From 2025, the centre would validate BMW battery electric vehicles prior to launch of series production.

Capacity for such tests in the free market was currently limited “which is why the group is creating its own capacity”.

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