Construction of BMW’s high-voltage battery assembly plant in Woodruff, South Carolina, has begun.
BMW management joined representatives from the city of Woodruff, Spartanburg County and Evans Construction on October 5, 2023, for a ceremonial beam signing celebrating the first steel to be erected at the site. After the signing, construction of the facility officially began.
Previously, BMW Group announced that it would invest US$1.7bn in its US operations, including US$1bn to prepare the Spartanburg plant for the production of fully electric vehicles, and US$700m to build a new high-voltage battery assembly plant in Woodruff.
BMW predicts that it will be producing at least six fully electric models in the US by 2030.
Plant Woodruff, scheduled to be completed by 2026, will produce sixth-generation batteries to supply fully electric vehicles in surrounding local areas.
According to BMW, the facility will cover nearly 93,000m2 and will feature a technology building and support buildings such as a cafeteria, fire department and energy center. More than 300 jobs are forecast to be created on-site.
In line with BMW’s ‘local for local’ approach, the company will purchase battery cells for its electric vehicles from battery manufacturer AESC, which is building a new 30GWh battery cell factory in Florence, South Carolina, with BMW as its first customer.
AESC is set to produce newly developed round lithium-ion battery cells, specifically designed for the sixth generation of BMW eDrive technology. Battery cells produced at the AESC facility in Florence will be shipped to Plant Woodruff, where the cells will be used to manufacture batteries for fully electric BMW X models at Plant Spartanburg.
“Today, we literally begin to build our legacy as we start the construction of Plant Woodruff,” said Dr Robert Engelhorn, president and CEO of BMW. “This BMW plant will play an important role for the future of electric mobility at Plant Spartanburg and in the United States.”
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