BMW’s Electric vehicles currently use hybrid Cluster Architecture (CLAR) platform for production. The CLAR supports EVs hybrids, and combustion engine vehicles as well.
They develop another platform named “Neue Klasse” exclusively for electric vehicles. (Neue Klasse means New Class)
BMW’s future range of Neue Klasse electric vehicles would come powered by exciting battery technology.
The automaker is reportedly developing advanced lithium-ion battery packs that will offer as much as 30 percent additional range compared to the company’s current range of EV battery packs.
The German luxury car brand is working on Gen 6 battery pack at the BMW Group Battery Cell Centre of Excellence in Munich. The new battery cells come with a cylindrical shape that changes how the cell-to-pack is designed.
They currently use prismatic cells for their electric vehicles.
BMW plans to bring a range of EVs underpinned by the Neue Klasse platform that will be equipped with Gen 6 battery packs.
Features of the new battery pack
Here are the features of the new battery pack
#1 Body mounted
The Gen 6 battery pack’s new cylindrical design allows the battery pack to be mounted directly into the EV’s frame.
The main challenge will be to achieve the right compromise between stiffness and flexibility, claimed the automaker.
This not only improves chassis stiffness and ride quality of the vehicle but contributes to 50 percent cost savings as well.
#2 Ecofriendly
The new battery cell is claimed to use more nickel and silicon and a lesser amount of cobalt. The cathode in the battery cell has 50 percent less cobalt, while the anode has 20 percent less graphite. The new battery also uses recycled cobalt, nickel, and lithium and makes the cells use renewable energy.
In the name of sustainability, BMW promises that cell production will rely on recycled metals, in addition to receiving commitments from suppliers that the cells will be produced using renewable energy. The hope is that BMW will reduce its cell-production carbon footprint by 60%.
#3 Energy Density
BMW has claimed that the new battery packs will promise significantly higher energy density. Also, the new design will allow the automaker to put more cells into the battery pack.
The report further claims that these batteries take 30 percent less time to reenergize from 10 to 80 percent, compared to the current BMW battery packs.
The automaker aims to go fully electric in the coming years, and the Neue Klasse architecture will play an integral role in that strategy. BMW plans to build several electric crossovers based on this platform by the middle of this decade. Expect these EVs to come powered by the new Gen 6 battery pack.
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