Today Daimler and BMW have signed an agreement for long-term cooperation on joint development of SAE Level 4 technologies including driver assistance systems, automated driving on highways and automated parking plus extending to higher levels of automation in urban areas and city centres. The cooperation is non-exclusive and other OEMs are welcome to participate. The companies expect a market-ready technology to be launched for end-users in 2024. The work will be shared among the teams of three main locations - the Mercedes-Benz Technology Centre (MTC) in Sindelfingen, the Daimler Testing and Technology Centre in Immendingen and the BMW Group Autonomous Driving Campus in Unterschleissheim, near Munich.Daimler is already working on many related technologies. 2019 will see the launch in San José, Silicon Valley, of its first pilot programme, with Bosch, on self-driving vehicles (Levels 4/5) in urban environments. At the beginning of the next decade, Daimler will bring to the market not only Level 3 vehicles but also Level 4/5 vehicles (fully automated).BMW has been working on related technologies ever since 2006. Its solution offers a Level 2 to Level 4 scalability for increased flexibility and future viability. Currently, more than 70 test vehicles around the world are testing new Level 2 - 5 functions out on the road and gather data in order to improve machine learning with artificial intelligence. This will go into series production as Level 3 automation in 2021 in the BMW iNEXT where it will also be Level 4 enabled for pilot projects. Source

BMW will start producing battery modules for its EVs on its Leipzig site in 2021 BMW announced that it will expand its Leipzig site in Germany with a second plant where it intends to start producing battery modules for its EVs from 2021. The Leipzig site is the e-mobility pioneer among the BMW Group's plants. As the production site of the BMW i3, the brand's first all-electric vehicle, it has been involved in electric mobility since 2013. By 2022, the company will invest more than €100 million...

BMW iX3 Premier Edition or BMW iX3 Premier Edition Pro pricing and launch date for the UK announced BMW has announced the 2021 BMW iX3 on July 15th and now the pricing, availability and first specifications for the UK market are unveiled. Launching in summer 2021, UK customers will be able to choose between the BMW iX3 Premier Edition and BMW iX3 Premier Edition Pro. Each will be available in four exterior colors: Carbon Black, Mineral White, Phytonic Blue, and Sophisto Grey. Two exterior trim colours will be...

BMW Brilliance Automotive doubles production capacity for high-voltage batteries in China BMW's Brilliance Automotive joint venture in China doubles production capacity for high-voltage batteries in its Tiexi factory. It has been expanded with a new battery center that will immediately begin producing the new and more powerful batteries of the fifth-generation BMW eDrive technology used in the fully-electric BMW iX3. Production of the new fully-electric BMW iX3 will get underway at BBA Plant Dadong by...

BYD will supply Daimler with Blade Batteries The Elec reports that BYD is planning to supply Daimler with its lithium ferrous phosphate (LFP) batteries. These are the brand's Blade Batteries without modules that have higher energy density compared to their counterparts with modules and match the energy density of NCM batteries. Ultimately, this increases the average EV range per charge by 100 km. In general, LFP batteries are able to provide arou8nd 300 km of...

CATL will supply Mercedes-Benz with EV batteries Mercedes-Benz announced that it will source out "advanced, CO2-neutrally produced battery cells, modules and systems" from CATL. The agreement covers the full range of battery technologies, from cells across modules for Mercedes-Benz Cars to entire battery systems for Mercedes-Benz Vans in promising innovative technology configurations. This also includes the CATL cell-to-pack (CTP) design, which eliminates...

Mercedes-Benz T-Class - a new EV on a small van platform by Mercedes-Benz Vans Mercedes-Benz Vans announced that it develops the Mercedes-Benz T-Class with a full electric version on a small van platform. It is targeted at families and leisure-oriented people looking for an attractive price-value ratio. The letter T stands for efficient room concepts and is thus perfectly suited as a model designation for compact family vans bearing the three-pointed star. The T-Class and the Citan will be...

IDTechEx: "Revolutionary Solid-state Batteries Will Create a $6 Billion Market in 2030" According to IDTechEx's report "Solid-State and Polymer Batteries 2020-2030: Technology, Patents, Forecasts, Players.", the potential market size for solid-state batteries is expected to grow to over $6 billion by 2030. This is due to various undisputed advantages of solid-state batteries including high safety level, simple pack design, higher energy density. The market demand for solid-state batteries mainly comes...

BMW X1 and BMW 5 Series will include BEV models as part of the Power of Choice strategy BMW has already announced on a number of occasions that it will release 25 electrified models by 2023. However, the latest press release regarding the company's strategy for improving efficiency and sustainability mentions not only electrifying the BMW 7 Series, but also the BMW X1 and BMW 5 Series. All this is a part of the Power of Choice strategy of the brand. The latter refers to BMW's usage of modular platforms...

smart joint venture establishes smart Europe, a smart EV in the B-segment is due in 2022 based on a new EV platform The new global smart joint venture between Geely and Mercedes-Benz in China has established smart Europe GmbH as a wholly-owned subsidiary to supply, sell and service future smart vehicles in the European market. It will be located in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Stuttgart. A new all-electric vehicle architecture will become the foundation for smart's entry into the premium B-segment range with its first products...

BMW will receive EV batteries from EVE Energy EVE Energy is a joint venture partner of SK Innovation in China. Under the joint venture, the two companies are building the Blue Sky United Energy plant for EV batteries in Yancheng. It is projected to have an annual production rate of 20-25GWh. Recently, EVE Energy company has announced that it will supply EV batteries to BMW. For BMW Brilliance - the automakers' joint venture in China, batteries will come from...

Mercedes-Benz EQS will offer a range of more than 700 km In a speech given by Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management, at the Annual Shareholders' Meeting of Daimler AG in early July, it was said that the Mercedes-Benz EQS will offer a range of more than 700 km according to the WLTP cycle. The model had its own small chapter in the speach which also said that this is the brand's first fully electric luxury sedan based on an all-electric architecture. The EQS...

BMW remodels its Munich plant for the production of the BMW i4 BMW's Munich plant will stop from July 24 to September 4 to be remodeled for the production of the BMW i4. Once remodeling is finished, BMW will be able to produce vehicles with diesel, petrol and hybrid drive trains, as well as the fully-electric BMW i4, all on the same line.

BMW and Northvolt sign a 2 billion euros deal for EV batteries supply from 2024 on BMW has signed a long-term supply contract worth 2 billion euros for battery cells with the Swedish company Northvolt. The battery cells will be produced in Europe at the Northvolt gigafactory currently under construction in Skellefteå in northern Sweden (series plant Northvolt Ett) from 2024. Northvolt will obtain 100 percent of the energy needed to produce the battery cells regionally in northern Sweden and...