BMW will convert the well-known BMW Group plant in Steyr and gradually switch to electromobility. So far, the focus has been on combustion engines, but from 2025 the next generation of electric motors is to be produced in Austria.
Up to 600,000 electric motors per year
The aim is largely CO2-free production and a capacity of 600,000 electric motors per year. BMW would like to bundle all core competencies (rotor and stator, the transmission, the inverter and the housing) on-site at the BMW plant in Steyr.
By 2030, 1 billion euros will be invested in order to retain and retrain employees. Most of the money (over 700 million euros) will go into expanding production, but BMW will invest around 230 million euros in a “new high-performance electric drive” that is intended to “found a new performance class”.
New motor for the new electric platform
It is likely to be the electric drive for the “New Class” from BMW, a purely electric platform that will start around 2025. To start with, a BMW i3 will be created as a purely electric 3 Series – the first model with the new E generation.
BMW used to like to be “technology-open” in press releases, but that has changed in recent months. Hydrogen and Co. hardly play a role anymore and the large investments flow into electromobility (with a battery).
I could well imagine that there has been a rethink at BMW in recent months. And I bet that the new generation of combustion engines will not be part of this strategy, even if one would like to develop one.
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