Envision AESC to Build New US Factory for BMW Battery Supply
On October 19, BMW and Envision AESC, a battery tech firm under Envision Group, reached a long-term cooperation agreement. Under the deal, Envision AESC will provide its next generation of lithium-ion batteries for BMW’s new vehicle models from 2026, which will be produced at the Spartanburg factory in the US.
BMW officially announced a month ago that China’s CATL and EVE Energy became its cylindrical battery suppliers, having signed purchase contracts worth more than 10 billion euros. The above two companies have already started the layout of new battery factories in Europe, both of which are located in Hungary.
BMW also revealed at that time that in addition to CATL and EVE Energy, it would find other partners to build a new battery factory in the US. to meet the demand of its new generation of vehicle models. The latest announcement shows that BMW chose Envision AESC.
SEE ALSO: BMW to Use CATL and EVE Energy’s Cylindrical Cells in 2025
Envision AESC will build a new zero-carbon battery factory in South Carolina to provide products for BMW, with a planned production capacity of 30GWh, which will be put into production in 2026. This will be the 13th battery production base built by Envision AESC in the world.
However, Envision AESC will face the impact of the US’s Inflation Reduction Act when it builds a factory. The bill stipulates that 40% of the raw materials used in electric vehicle batteries must come from North America, and this proportion will increase year by year to 80% in 2027. For foreign enterprises attempting to enter the US market, they must reconstruct their own industrial chain, which is bound to bring about new challenges.
Relying on the latest generation of battery technology from Envision AESC, the performance of BMW’s new-generation models will be greatly improved. With energy density increased by 20%, the battery’s charging speed will be faster, and the cruising range of electric vehicles will be extended by 30%.
Based on the common sustainable vision of both parties, Envision Group will carry out strategic cooperation with BMW in the fields of renewable energy, intelligent IoT, carbon management and battery ecology. At the same time, Envision AESC will select the raw materials of certified mines and recycle the battery materials.
In the past 12 years, Envision AESC has supplied batteries for 650,000 electric vehicles in 44 countries, and has been rated as “the world’s first-class battery manufacturer” by Benchmark, a well-known British lithium-ion battery supply chain research institution for many years.
In March this year, Envision AESC announced a cooperation deal with Mercedes-Benz to build a new digital zero-carbon power battery factory in Kentucky. At present, Envision AESC has established production bases in China, Japan, the US, France, Britain and Spain, and its total capacity of zero-carbon batteries will exceed 400GWh by 2026.
The cylindrical batteries purchased by BMW from these three suppliers are all 46 mm in diameter. According to different packaging methods, batteries can be divided into cylindrical, square and soft packages.
Among them, cylindrical batteries can be divided into two types – diameters of 21 mm and 46 mm –with Tesla having adopted the latter.
