It appears that Tesla Motors is not the only company willing to share its patents with rivals in order to help sales of electric vehicles pick up speed. BMW said it is open to sharing with rival automakers the electric vehicle battery cell technology it co-developed with Korea’s Samsung SDI.
According to BMW purchasing boss Klaus Draeger, sharing the technology would reduce the cost of the battery cells, which are the most expensive part of an electric vehicle. “If Mercedes called us, we would be happy to find a way with Samsung SDI to supply them with battery cells,” Draeger told Autonews Europe.
BMW announced plans to increase orders of battery cells from its exclusive supplier Samsung SDI by at least 20 to 30 percent in 2016 compared to the current level. The supply deal is part of a memorandum of understanding signed between the two companies that also include co-development of a next generation of battery cells.
Samsung SDI will increase battery supply for the BMW i3 and BMW i8 and will supply batteries for future BMW hybrid models starting with the X5 plug-in hybrid. Samsung SDI also supplies battery cells to Chrysler in the United States for the 500e city car and to Ferrari for the LaFerrari hybrid hypercar.
BMW sold 5,396 i3 electric vehicles globally in the first six months of the year out of a total of 1.02 million vehicles it sold during the period. The German carmaker said it increased i3 production to 100 units a day in April and will raise it by further 40 percent at the end of summer.
By Dan Mihalascu
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