ONE and BMW announce iX planned with almost 1,000 km range
US battery start-up Our Next Energy (ONE) has signed an agreement with BMW to integrate its Gemini battery technology into a BMW iX. The vehicle prototype is to be completed by the end of this year – and will then be able to drive 600 miles or 965 kilometres on one charge.
BMW is one of the investors in Our Next Energy – so it is also obvious to use a BMW vehicle for further tests. The Gemini battery is a mixed battery pack: ONE’s Aires battery (an LFP battery with CTP technology) is coupled to a second, high-energy battery pack, which recharges the Aries battery like a range extender.
Last year, ONE installed a prototype of its Gemini battery pack in a Tesla Model S and, according to its own claims, achieved a range of 752 miles, or around 1,200 kilometres. At 203.7 kWh, the energy content of the installed battery pack was about twice as high as the original battery pack from Tesla – with the same dimensions.
In the announcement of the BMW deal, ONE now states that the lithium requirement can be reduced by 20 per cent with the Gemini battery, and the graphite requirement by as much as 60 per cent. In addition, the use of nickel and cobalt is to be minimised – the company does not give exact figures here.
“As EV adoption grows, drivers are learning that real-world conditions can significantly reduce the performance of their batteries,” says Mujeeb Ijaz, founder and CEO of ONE. “Common situations like maintaining highway speeds, winter temperatures, climbing mountains, towing, or a combination of all four things present challenges to electric vehicles. We plan to pack twice as much energy into batteries, so EVs can easily handle long-distance driving in real-world conditions.”
“We are well-positioned to incorporate ONE’s IP into BMW’s SAV line,” said Jürgen Hildinger, BMW Group New Technologies Head of High Voltage Storage. “We are confident that given economic viability, this can lead to commercial opportunities and strategies to integrate ONE’s battery technologies into models of our future BEV product line-up.”
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