The order volume for CATL, originally announced in mid-2018 and worth € 4 billion, will increase to € 7.3 billion (contract period: 2020 to 2031). The BMW Group will account for €4.5 billion while the Chinese production site of the joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. (BBA) in Shenyang accounts for € 2.8 billion. This makes the BMW Group the first customer of the CATL battery cell plant currently under construction in Erfurt, Germany.
In addition, BMW has signed a long-term supply contract for the fifth generation of electric drives with its second battery cell supplier, Samsung SDI. The contract is worth € 2.9 billion (contract period: 2021 to 2031).
BMW will purchase the key raw material cobalt required for cell production directly from mines in Australia and Morocco and provide it to CATL and Samsung SDI. This also applies to lithium, which BMW will also purchase directly from raw material mines, including in Australia. This gives the company complete transparency as to the origin of these two raw materials. In addition, with the introduction of the fifth generation of electric drives in 2021, the company will completely dispense with the use of rare earth materials.
