After phasing out production of the BMW i3, the birthplace of electric mobility at the BMW Group has welcomed another fully electric car to its range. It now manufactures four models with three drive types by two brands, all on a single production line: the BMW 1 Series, the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer (including the plug-in hybrid version), the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe and the MINI Countryman in both its fully electric and combustion-powered versions.
“Our cars and components are very much in demand. In recent years the BMW Group has invested around 1.6 billion euros in the Leipzig site to produce additional vehicles and electric components, and now we’re increasing vehicle volumes too – which is great news for our plant,” said Petra Peterhänsel, Plant Director.
Production of the MINI Countryman Electric at BMW Group Plant Leipzig
The MINI Countryman Electric production launch means that BMW Group Plant Leipzig now represents all three stages of the Gen 5 high-voltage battery production process: cell coating, module production, and battery assembly. Currently, operations in all three stages are ramping up. There are five cell-coating, three module-production, and two high-voltage battery-production lines in place.
“We are in the middle of the transformation to e-mobility,” said Markus Fallböhmer, Head of Battery Production at the BMW Group. “Starting this year, Plant Leipzig will carry out every stage of our in-house high-voltage battery production process. It’s our next great step forwards.”
Production of the MINI Countryman Electric at BMW Group Plant Leipzig
Since 2021, Plant Leipzig has been increasing its e-component production capacity. It will now manufacture e-components for the BMW iX1, BMW iX2, BMW i4, BMW i5, and BMW iX made at other sites, in addition to the high-voltage batteries for the MINI Countryman Electric.
To enable the production of high-voltage batteries, spaces previously used for the BMW i3 and BMW i8 have been converted, and new buildings have been added. One of these is a new hall with a footprint of about 61,000 m2. This facility has two production lines that can manufacture up to 300,000 high-voltage batteries annually. The BMW Group has invested over 900 million euros in e-component production at Plant Leipzig so far.
The MINI Countryman Electric is available in two fully electric versions: the Countryman E (150 kW, 204 hp) and the more powerful all-wheel drive Countryman SE ALL4 (230 kW, 313 hp).
Prices have already been announced: the Countryman E will start at €43,500, while the four-wheel-drive version will cost an extra €6,000.
Source: BMW Group
