BMW and Rimac will team up to develop high-voltage battery technologies to improve the vision of future electric cars.
BMW has announced its partnership with Rimac to develop and produce high-voltage battery technologies and systems. No major details have been given about the association, but it is known that it will be applied to future BMW models.
This alliance represents an important milestone for Rimac Technology, which is part of the Rimac Group. The company is becoming a “high-volume, tier-one supplier” of battery electric vehicles, as BMW claims.
Mate Rimac, CEO of Rimac Automobili, said in a Facebook post that this agreement “has a special meaning, due to the complexity and advancement of the product, due to the size of the agreed agreement and due to the trust that BMW gives us, but also for me personally.”
This is all Rimac has said in his Facebook post:
“Rimac Technology already cooperates with many automobile manufacturers. But this one with BMW has a special meaning, because of the complexity and advanced level of the product, the size of the agreed work, the trust that BMW gives us, but also emotionally for me personally. For me, it all started with a 1984 BMW, which I started converting to electric propulsion in 2008. Back then my dream was to work for BMW.
Today we not only work with BMW, but together we create the future of their electric models, in Croatia, where for the last two years battery systems for future BMW models have been developed and produced, and now it has been made public .
Much of the Campus is dedicated specifically to the production of batteries for BMW, which, together with other agreed work, makes the most of it (we are already short of space and are planning a new factory). Not only is it the largest deal in our history, but also perhaps the largest contract in the history of the country (at least I haven't been able to find a bigger one).
At that time, when I was 20 years old, I could not have imagined such a development of events. We're headed in the right direction, but we still feel like we've only just begun. There are still great things to come!”
A key alliance for the future of electrification
The Croatian electric vehicle magnate launched his first project in 2008: Converting a BMW 3 Series from the 1984 E30 generation to a fully electric version. It was that project that made Rimac take off, making it one of the greatest innovators in the electric car sector.
In addition to being the big boss of his own company, he also runs Bugatti. Likewise, he has dedicated a large part of his Croatian company to the production of BMW batteries. He is running out of space, so the company is considering a new factory. According to the head of the company, it could be the largest contract in the history of the country.
Rimac has been around for 15 years and presented its first prototype, the Concept One, at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. The result was a production vehicle called Nevera that arrived in 2022 from Rimac Automobili.
This came about as a result of the union with Bugatti, which received the name Bugatti-Rimac. The company is currently developing a V16 hybrid to find a new successor to the already well-known Chiron.
BMW highlighted Rimac's experience in the production of battery packs, electric axles and software in its announcement. We don't know the extent of the collaboration, but we won't have to wait too long to see the results. Both will release more information “soon”, as BMW has stated.