- This long-term supply contract with Northvolt will fuel BMW’s future electromobility plans
The BMW Group is driving the expansion of electromobility and has hence, signed a long-term supply contract worth two billion Euros for battery cells with Swedish company Northvolt.
The battery cells will be produced in Europe at the Northvolt gigafactory that’s currently under construction in Skelleftea in northern Sweden, from 2024.
Northvolt is the third battery cell supplier BMW has partnered with, alongside its existing partners, CATL and Samsung SDI. However, the brand detailed that one of the decisive factors which went in Northvolt’s favour, is that it will obtain 100 percent of the energy needed to produce the battery cells, exclusively from wind and hydroelectric power.
Oliver Zipse, Chairman, BMW, said, “To make an effective contribution to climate protection, we aim to improve our products’ overall environmental balance; from resources to recycling. This applies in particular to energy-intensive production of high-voltage batteries for electric vehicles. That is why we now have a contractual agreement with our cell manufacturers that they will only use green power to produce our fifth-generation battery cells.”
Signing this contract is another step towards meeting BMW’s growing need for battery cells in the long term. As the brand is systematically driving at electrification of its vehicle fleet, it aims to have 25 electrified models on the roads by the year 2023.
