Photo: Image edited by autoevolution
Remember that meeting that took place between Tesla and BMW officials right after the former announced it will be sharing its patents with anyone interested? As it turns out, the two companies are going to be working even closer in the future, as Elon Musk claimed in a recent interview for German magazine Der Spiegel.
The CEO and founder of Tesla, said that his collaboration with BMW is now entering a new phase that will allow both companies to be more profitable and bring better products to the market.
"We are negotiating with BMW in connection with new technology for batteries and charging stations as well as technologies for the production of carbon fiber, which is important to our engineering department,” Musk said in the interview.
He went even further, calling BMW’s lightweight material, Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) ‘interesting’ and ‘relatively cost efficient’ which might not seem like compliments at first but are a lot considering they came from Musk.
While BMW made no official comment regarding these statements from Musk, the collaboration does seem extremely viable for both parts involved.
The Germans have their own CFRP manufacturing plant through the guys from SGL that are seemingly not capable of making enough to cope with the demand. The Moses Lake plant received billions in infrastructure investments and it’s starting to show its worth.
The cherry on top came when Musk said that he expects the company he runs to have a complete battery production plant in Germany in 5 or 6 years, to provide for its German partners. Yes, partners, because the Americans are not only working with BMW but also Mercedes-Benz that buys its batteries for the electric B-Class from the same vendor.
"We are negotiating with BMW in connection with new technology for batteries and charging stations as well as technologies for the production of carbon fiber, which is important to our engineering department,” Musk said in the interview.
He went even further, calling BMW’s lightweight material, Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) ‘interesting’ and ‘relatively cost efficient’ which might not seem like compliments at first but are a lot considering they came from Musk.
While BMW made no official comment regarding these statements from Musk, the collaboration does seem extremely viable for both parts involved.
The Germans have their own CFRP manufacturing plant through the guys from SGL that are seemingly not capable of making enough to cope with the demand. The Moses Lake plant received billions in infrastructure investments and it’s starting to show its worth.
Tesla to build battery plant in Germany
At the same time, they would also need Tesla’s battery technology as well as their charging methods to offer better support for their EV customers. Thanks to its ‘Superchargers’ Tesla cars can be charged up to 80% in 40 minutes. Considering the batteries used in the Model S are at least three times as big as in the i3, the improvements to charging times would be drastic.The cherry on top came when Musk said that he expects the company he runs to have a complete battery production plant in Germany in 5 or 6 years, to provide for its German partners. Yes, partners, because the Americans are not only working with BMW but also Mercedes-Benz that buys its batteries for the electric B-Class from the same vendor.
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