Start of series production for all-electric BMW i4

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Start of series production for all-electric BMW i4-all-electric

A new era began in Munich on Friday. The first series-produced BMW i4 left the factory at the BMW Group plant there. This is according to a statement from the company. From now on, vehicles with all drive variants will run on the same assembly line at the main plant. “The start of the BMW I4 is a milestone for this work and its team on the way towards e-mobility,” said production board Milan Nedeljković: “As of 2023, more than half of all vehicles from Munich have an electrified drive. Most of them will be fully electrically motorized.”

According to BMW, the production of the all-electric i4 in the existing structures of the almost 100-year-old plant presented special challenges and required extensive conversion and installation measures. “We managed to integrate the vehicle into our existing production system while production was still ongoing,” says Plant Manager Peter Weber. 200 million euros have been invested in this.

The main difference between the BMW i4 and conventional architecture is its electric drive and high-voltage battery. Nevertheless, around 90 percent of the existing production facilities in the Munich body shop are also used for the i4. It is said that additional systems are only required for the production of the floor pan and the rear structure. A fully automatic battery assembly bolts the battery from below to the body. Before installation, high-resolution camera systems check the surface of the high-voltage battery to avoid contamination and the resulting damage.

An important element is the increasing digitization in production, according to BMW. The entire Munich plant is currently being recorded in detail using 3D scans in order to obtain digital data for the existing buildings and systems. The US plant in Spartanburg and the Regensburg plant are already complete, and the Dingolfing plant is partially recorded in this way. New buildings and systems are already being planned virtually today – such as the axle pre-assembly for the BMW i4.

Sustainability plays a major role in production. The BMW Group has already more than halved the resource consumption per vehicle produced between 2006 and 2020. CO2 emissions have even been reduced by 78 percent. By 2030, they are to be reduced by a further 80 percent per vehicle produced. Treating the waste water from the paint shop would save more than six million liters of fresh water every year.

At the start of production of the i4, BMW announced another environmental goal: Within the next few years, the transport logistics for the Munich plant are to become locally emission-free. The company is increasingly relying on rail and the use of battery-powered trucks. According to the BMW Group, it has been using only green electricity worldwide since last year. Among other things, direct purchase agreements have been concluded with regional hydroelectric power plants for the i4 production.

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5 thoughts on “Start of series production for all-electric BMW i4”

  1. I’m looking forward to Christmas like a little kid
    The car is my dream car, it embodies everything I expect from a good car.

    The demand also seems to be high, I ordered in August and can probably pick it up in early Q2/2022. One hears of later orders as early as Q4/2022 or e.g.B. in Austria Dates in 2023.

    But it’s no wonder, you get almost the driving performance of an M3 Competition for a significantly lower price and lower running costs.
    Reply

  2. With the car, the fleet business with user choosers could get going for the first time. But production seems to be ramping up very conservatively. So the quantities are not to be expected as with combustion engines.

    Reply

  4. At least the word ‘Teslakiller’ doesn’t appear in the BMW press release..
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    Treating the waste water from the paint shop would save more than six million liters of fresh water every year.

    Of course I think it’s good, but it would be interesting how much fresh water is needed per car. I believe that Tesla Grunheide (despite many protests) will be even better.

    Reply

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