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Physix Frontier · News Briefing Card (IT Home · Oct 3, 2026)

BMW's Bavarian battery plant starts production for new i3

KEY FACTS

  • BMW's new battery assembly plant in Irlbach-Straßkirchen, Bavaria, began operations on October 1.
  • The plant produces sixth-generation high-voltage batteries for BMW's Neue Klasse i3 model.
  • The plant covers 60 hectares with a total investment of about 1 billion euros.
  • Construction broke ground in April 2024, and trial production started in March 2026.
  • At full capacity, about 1,600 employees work on two production lines, making several hundred batteries per day.
  • The plant uses fossil-free, waterless operations and recycled cobalt, lithium, and nickel as selling points.

KEY DATA

60 hectaresPlant area
About 1 billion eurosTotal investment
About 1,600Employees
Several hundred high-voltage batteriesDaily output

PHYSIX OBSERVATION

BMW is putting battery assembly at its main vehicle headquarters and using fossil-free, waterless operations and recycled cobalt, lithium, and nickel as selling points, differentiating itself in the European local supply chain. With 1,600 people and a daily output of only several hundred units, it remains a high-value-added, low-volume model. In the short term, it will be hard-pressed to challenge the scale advantage of Asian battery giants, but European automakers are using self-built capacity to gain control over key components.

Source: IT Home report