BMW Battery Test Centre In Wackersdorf Opens In 2024

The BMW Group has announced a more than 100 million euro investment to transform a portion of the Wackersdorf site (in Upper Palatinate) into a new test centre for high-voltage batteries integrated into existing building structures by 2026. 

By 2026, the BMW Group plans to invest more than 100 million euros in transforming a portion of the Wackersdorf site (Upper Palatinate) into a new high-voltage battery test centre integrated into existing building structures.

The intervention will primarily focus on the complex installation of test benches with specific technologies in Hall 80, as well as upgrades to the building's existing infrastructure required for their operation. The 8,442 square metre facility will be used for complex tests on high-voltage batteries and other electric powertrain components for future Group models.
The note describes a testing process that will begin very soon in the development of future electric vehicles.before the start of production. Numerous devices for testing batteries and individual cells will be installed in Wackersdorf's centre. They, like large refrigerators, contain the most advanced technologies. Specialists can determine the electrical performance of individual cells during charging and discharging under the most extreme conditions using 24/24 tests.

This procedure allows for the simulation of cases and situations of use that will be relevant to customers later, long before a vehicle in development hits the road. In the beginning, several hundred battery cells can be tested concurrently in Wackersdorf.

When the acceleration is finished, the testing capacity will be in the thousands. "The BMW Group's Wackersdorf site is set to become an important facilitator for the transformation towards electromobility," said Christoph Peters, the site manager, "and the renovation of the historic Hall 80 will become a symbol of the electric future of our plant."