One year ago, the BMW Group announced plans to build a new battery testing center at the Wackersdorf location. Now, the initial phase has come on-stream as planned. Scheduled for completion in late 2025, the site, which spans more than 8,000 square meters, will rigorously test individual battery cells, complete high-voltage batteries and other electric powertrain components for future BMW Group models early in development, well before they go into production.

The investment of around €100 million has primarily focused on complex test-bench technology and the upgrades to the building’s existing infrastructure required for operation. Hall 80, located on the grounds of the Wackersdorf plant, has been remodelled for this purpose: Originally constructed in the 1980s for a planned reprocessing facility, the building has quite a history.

In recent months, structural work for the new battery testing centre has been in progress, including installation of a new floor slab. A total of 2,200 tonnes of structural steel and 10,000 cubic meters of concrete were used in the expansion.

The commissioning of the initial section means that the so-called “battery testers” will be operating around the clock to test battery cells during the early phase of development. Essentially, the electrical performance of individual battery cells is determined during charging and discharging under different conditions. This allows use cases that will be relevant for customers later to be simulated, long before a vehicle under development drives on the road.