BMW Group announced Friday it will invest around €100 million ($107m) by 2026 for a new battery testing centre at its Wackersdorf site in Schwandorf, in Germany’s Bavaria state, Kallanish reports.

The new facility will cover 8,442 square meters and be integrated into the existing building structures. The investments will primarily focus on test bench technology and upgrading the existing infrastructure at the building originally constructed in the 1980s. Structural works are already underway at the site, with commissioning of the battery testers set to begin in mid-2024.

Initially, BMW will test the performance of individual battery cells around the clock to simulate different use cases. In the final development phase, starting in 2025, the facility will also validate BMW Group’s battery-electric vehicles before they enter series production. The batteries will be subject to vibration and shock tests, as well as endurance tests that will simulate charging and discharging cycles. According to the company, the capacity for such tests is currently limited in the market, leading BMW to set up its own capacity at the new centre. 

“The BMW Group’s Wackersdorf location is set to become a major facilitator for the transformation towards electromobility,” says site manager Christoph Peters. “In addition to supplying our overseas plants, cockpit production and, from 2024, door production for Rolls-Royce models, this will become Wackersdorf’s fourth main area of activity.”

Last month, the German carmaker announced it had started the construction of a logistics centre outside the Plant Leipzig premises, in northern Germany, for the fifth-generation high-voltage batteries used in its car models (see related story). More recently, the group said it is planning to build a new battery assembly factory in Straßkirchen, Bavaria. 

As per previous announcements, BMW Group did not disclose specific capacity details of the new facility.