BEIJING, October 18(TMTPost)— The BMW Group added a emerging Chinese manufacturer to its supplier list.

Credit：Visual China

SVOLT Energy Technology Co., Ltd, has won a battery orders of  capacity totaled nearly 90 Gigawatt hour (GWh)to supply BMW‘s electric vehicles (EVs) made in Europe, Chinese digital news media outlet 36Kr learned from several industry sources. The contract is worth of RMB96 billion (US$13 billion) based on the unit price of RMB0.6 per watt hour. SVOLT, a battery unit of Great Wall Motors, has signed the contract back in July and planned to start production in the end of 2027, a person close to the SVOLT told 36Kr.

SVOLT is reported to initially build two cell production lines to BMW at its facilities, where it will produce corresponding battery module and packs. The cells to be supplied to BMW will be the so-called short blade cells, which will be used in a CTP (cell to pack) mode in BMW's new-generation platform for purely electric vehicle models, according to the report.

The Short blade cell is SVOLT’s flagship offering launched in late 2021. It contains contain a full range of sizes from L300 to L600, covering the whole charging range from 1.6-4C and can be used in different application scenarios such as L600 and L300 for passenger battery electric vehicles (BEV), L400 for passenger hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), L500 for both energy storage and commercial vehicles, and both the L300 and L400 for off-highway, lower speed EVs.

Besides SVOLT, BMW will also choose another Chinese supplier from two major manufacturers-- Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., (CATL) or EVE Energy Co., Ltd. for its nearly 70 GWh capacity of EV battery order in China, 36Kr reported. The report suggests SVOLT became the third Chinese battery maker for BMW’s EVs. Unlike the unexpected bidder SVOLT, both CATL and EVE Energy have inked contracts about production of BMW’s innovative cells that adopts Tesla’s 4680 cell format. 36Kr learned that the recent 70 GWh capacity of order is not limited to make the cutting-edge cells.

BMW announced in September 2022 that it awarded contracts worth of “two-digit billion-euro” to CATL and EVE Energy, with the aim to produce the newly-developed cylindrical battery cells. The German auto manufacture said the new cells will be equipped with its next generation full electric model under an architecture called Neue Klasse, or New Class, starting from 2025.

According to BMW, its sixth generation of lithium-ion cells can increase energy density by more than 20%, and both the charging speed and the range of vehicle can be improved by up to 30% each. The company will reduce CO2 emissions from cell production by up to 60 percent. Cost of the new battery can be reduced by up to 50% compared with the current fifth generation version. The new BMW round cells come with a standard diameter of 46 millimeters (mm) and two different heights.

Under the agreement, CATL and EVE will make new cylindrical batteries for BMW in four plants located in China and Europe, each with an annual capacity of up to 20 GWh. CATL later said it would provide 46-mm-diameter battery cells to BMW, confirming the traditional auto giant is keeping up with Tesla by adopting the same diameter design as Tesla's 4680 cells.

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