German automaker BMW on Tuesday stated its electric cars will use battery cells produced by making use of renewable energy, a step which will convince the biggest suppliers to source more non-coal generated electricity.
“We now have a contractual agreement with our cell manufacturers that they will use only green power to produce our fifth-generation battery cells,” said BMW CEO Zipse stated during an interview published on the company’s website.
Last year, BMW ordered over 10 billion euros’ ($11.07 billion) worth of battery cells from Chinese battery cell maker Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and Samsung SDI.
CATL is building a battery cell production plant in Erfurt, Germany, and has stated it intends to produce 60 gigawatt hours (GWh) worth of cells annually from 2026 onwards.
BMW is planning to launch the electric BMW iX3 in 2020, and the BMW iNEXT and BMW i4 in 2021.
As production volumes of electric BMW cars boost, the use of green power will save around 10 million tonnes of CO2 over the next decade, BMW stated, adding that this is equal to the annual carbon dioxide emissions produced by a city of more than a million inhabitants.
