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BMW to Build Electric Car Parts in Washington

07 April, 2010 10:23:00

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BMW and its partner SGL Group will invest $100 million to build a carbon fiber plant, in Moses Lake, WA.

BMW said that the SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers LLC, a joint venture between BMW and SGL Group created last October, will create 80 new local jobs.

The new facility is an important element of both companies’ strategy to commercialize viable manufacturing of ultra light weight carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) for use in future vehicle concepts.

BMW wants to replace steel and aluminum with carbon in electric car models such as the upcoming Megacity car, in order to make them lighter.

The production of CFRP involves several work stages. The raw material needed to manufacture carbon fibers, a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based precursor, will be produced by a joint venture between SGL Group and the Japanese company Mitsubishi Rayon (MRC) in Otake, Japan.

In the next step, the facility in Moses Lake will convert the polyacrylic fibers into the actual carbon fibers. These fibers are then processed into light weight carbon fiber fabrics at a second joint venture site in Wackersdorf, Germany.

The CFRP parts and components will then be made from these fabrics at the BMW Group Plant Landshut, Germany. The assembly of the Megacity Vehicle will take place at the BMW Group plant in Leipzig, Germany where currently a range of BMW 1 Series and the BMW X1 are being built.

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