BMW receives planning permission for battery assembly plant
At the end of March 2024, the district office had already approved the early start for soil removal, construction site equipment and the installation of construction and office containers, and BMW began removing the topsoil from the first construction phase at the beginning of April 2024. According to BMW, this is to be reused “sensibly”: In “close cooperation with local agricultural associations, the government of Lower Bavaria and the Deggendorf Water Management Office”, the topsoil is to be distributed to agricultural businesses in the region.
“We are delighted to have reached this important milestone in our project. With the building permit, we have obtained the legal basis to press ahead with the realisation of our new site in Lower Bavaria as planned,” says Markus Fallböhmer, Head of Battery Production at the BMW Group, on the current interim status.
At the plant, which covers land in the municipalities of Straßkirchen and Irlbach, BMW intends to use supplied battery cells to produce ready-to-install battery packs, which will then be installed in electric cars at the Bavarian BMW car plants in Munich, Dingolfing and Regensburg. Due to the soil sealing and the feared delivery traffic, there was resistance to the project locally for a long time. It was not until September 2023 that a referendum in Straßkirchen cleared the way.
BMW claims that the first construction phase alone will create around 1,600 jobs at the site – and the battery supply from Irlbach and Straßkirchen could “secure jobs at the BMW Group’s Bavarian automotive plants and create new jobs in the pioneering field of e-mobility.”
Update 27 June 2024
BMW has started building the future production site for high-voltage batteries in Lower Bavaria, Germany. Following the preparatory work of the past few months, the construction is taking shape with the erection of the first concrete pillar, which is around twelve metres high.
In the coming weeks, a total of around 1,000 columns will be erected on an area measuring 300 by 500 metres, according to BMW. According to Alexander Kiy, overall project manager at BMW for the plant construction, the exterior and roof of the production building will be completed by the end of this year. Construction of the ancillary buildings will also start this summer. The energy centre, service centre and fire brigade will be built as free-standing buildings south of the production building. More than 20 full-time firefighters will work in the site’s fire brigade.
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