BMW Group Thailand has begun local assembly of high-voltage batteries at its dedicated plant located in WHA Chonburi Industrial Estate 2, which will be used in the production of plug-in hybrid models there.
The facility was built in partnership with Dräxlmaier Group, and will see the assembly of both battery modules and the battery itself, with completed units being transported to BMW Group Thailand’s Plant Rayong for use in the 530e.
To ensure the battery assembly process meets BMW’s standards, the facility features various onsite technologies like laser welding, plasma activation, robotics, gluing, automated optical and electrical inline quality inspection, as well as end-of-line testing. All involved staff has also undergone extensive training at BMW Group Plant Dingolfing and pilot plant for e-drivetrains in Munich.
“One of the pillars of BMW Group’s global strategy is electrification, and BMW Group Manufacturing Thailand is underlining its commitment to this mission by taking another big step forward in our electro-mobility strategy,” said Uwe Quaas, managing director of BMW Group Manufacturing Thailand
“The start of local battery production enables us to better respond to growing domestic demand for electrified vehicles in Thailand. This new capability also strengthens the performance of Plant Rayong in fulfilling the country’s mission of sustainable mobility,” he added.
Prior to this, BMW Group Thailand was endorsed for incentives by Thailand’s Board of Investment (BoI) for a 700 million baht outlay in PHEV production, with the new battery plant being an investment worth 500 million baht.
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High voltage batteries and only 1 station has fire proof protection? I can see why they went to Thailand.
Thailand’s lax safety standards and even worse ‘money can settle everything’ attitude.
Just wanna ask, did NEP indirectly affected foreign direct investment away from Malaysia to neighbouring countries?
Nope. It was because of National Songlap Projects masquerading as NEP projects. Now we are back to National Songlap 2.0 Projects, more will run away.
It’s one of the future proof industries that our local government should aggressively promote to bring in to up level our skills and higher value added products!
Yeah, but can it fly?
Hope we are not far behind