BMW Group has broken ground for a new high voltage battery assembly plant in Woodruff, South Carolina.
Named Plant Woodruff, the facility will supply batteries for full electric vehicles to the nearby assembly plant in Spartanburg, creating 300 jobs.
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“Today’s groundbreaking is the start of a new era at Plant Spartanburg as we prepare to produce fully electric X models for the world,” said BMW manufacturing president and CEO Robert Engelhorn.
BMW chairman Oliver Zipse had, last October, announced a US$1.7bn investment in the US operations, including $1bn to prepare the assembly plant to build fully electric vehicles and $700m for the battery plant.
The Woodruff facility is on 315 acres and will be 1m square feet in size including a technology building and support buildings such as a cafeteria, fire department, and energy centre.
The automaker will buy battery cells from AESC which is building a new 30GWh factory in Florence, South Carolina, with BMW as its first customer. AESC broke ground for its new plant on 7 June. It will produce newly developed round lithium-ion cells specifically designed for sixth generation BMW eDrive.
The new battery format will increase energy density by 20% and improve charging speed and range by 30%. CO2 emissions from cell production will be reduced by up to 60% through the partial use of secondary lithium, cobalt, and nickel material, as well as renewable energy for production.
By 2030, Plant Spartanburg will build at least six fully electric BMWs.
A new technical training centre opened last October will train workers to build fully electric vehicles. The plant produces three plug-in hybrids and several hundred workers already have EV training.
Since 1992, BMW has invested $12.4bn in its South Carolina operations.
