2023 World New Energy Vehicle Conference
Auto-first|Liu Tianming
We are committed to providing our customers with 'green' electric vehicles, and we are taking our measures seriously and gradually. In the past 6 years, we have continuously improved the power battery management and closed-loop model of raw materials, so that BMW's retired electric vehicle batteries can smoothly embark on the 'road home'. Gao Xiang, President and CEO of BMW Group Greater China, said, "Through digital means, we can 'track' every battery;Through cooperation with dealers, we hope that every BMW NEV owner can enjoy more secure, worry-free and reassuring battery after-sales and first-class services. ”
At the 2023 World New Energy Vehicle Conference, which opened on December 7, BMW announced that thanks to the upgrade of BMW's retired battery life cycle management system, every power battery retired from BMW electric vehicles will be able to embark on the road of "going home", that is, returning to BMW's first-chain system.
According to public data, by 2025, the retirement of power batteries in China will reach 820,000 tons, and after 2028, this number will exceed 2.6 million tons. With the rapid growth of China's new energy vehicle sales, how to standardize and scientifically deal with a large number of retired power batteries has become the focus of industry attention.
In the rapid transformation of electrification, BMW has always adhered to the concept of long-term and responsible development. BMW began to promote vehicle electrification as early as 2013, and has accumulated more than 300,000 BMW new energy vehicles on the streets of China. In addition to the development of electric vehicles, BMW began to deploy its self-developed power battery traceability management system in 2017.
With the support of digital technology, BMW's power battery life cycle monitoring platform has opened up the "data closed loop" of upstream and downstream partners, making every life cycle of each battery transparent and traceable. In addition, the cooperation between the BMW Group and Zhejiang Huayou Recycling Technology Co., Ltd. has also been further deepened - the closed-loop model of raw materials for retired power batteries has covered all BMW electric models sold in China (including all domestic and imported electric models).
At the retail terminal, in order to provide customers with more convenient power battery services, more than two-thirds of BMW dealers across the country have set up battery service outlets that meet national standards, and it is expected that all BMW dealerships will complete the equipment next year.
The United Nations Global Compact recently officially released the "Power Battery Carbon Footprint and Low-carbon Cycle Development", which is the world's first report to systematically assess the carbon footprint and low-carbon circular development of power batteries. BMW, as a representative of an automobile manufacturer, provided the report with practical experience in the closed-loop of retired EV battery raw materials.
The newly upgraded management platform opens up the closed loop of the whole chain of battery data from production to production, realizes the data synchronization of upstream and downstream parties such as battery manufacturers, BMW R&D, production and sales systems, dealers, logistics providers, and battery suppliers, and makes the "whereabouts" of each battery more transparent and traceable through highly integrated information.
In this process, BMW's tracking of power batteries has reached the cell level, that is, each battery, each set of battery modules, and each battery pack has a unique code. In addition, on the basis of the original basic battery information, the updated platform has added battery health status monitoring, based on the battery health state evaluation algorithm developed in cooperation with Tsinghua University, which can collect updated data every 30 seconds, use massive battery real-time data, combined with battery type parameters, each charge and discharge, mileage and other big data to evaluate battery life, and can timely feedback the battery status to the BMW background.
In terms of power batteries, the BMW Group joined hands with Huayou Recycling in 2022 to take the lead in creating a closed-loop model of raw materials for domestic electric vehicle power batteries. In September this year, the cooperation between the two parties was upgraded, and BMW's imported electric vehicles sold in China were also included in the system. So far, in China, the closed-loop model of retired power battery raw materials** has covered all BMW electric models.
Through the cooperation with Huayou Recycling, a high proportion of core raw materials such as nickel, cobalt, and lithium in batteries will be refined, and all these recycled raw materials will be returned to BMW's domestic battery production system for the production and manufacturing of new batteries, so as to realize the recycling of resources. This initiative will also effectively reduce the carbon emissions of mineral resource mining by 70%, and significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the whole life cycle of power batteries.
As of the end of November 2023, more than 1,000 tons of recycled raw materials have been successfully refined and used in the production of new batteries, which are installed on domestic BMW electric models.
For retired power batteries with high residual capacity, BMW makes them "re-employed" through a variety of cascade utilization modes. Previously, the BMW Group cooperated with Huayou Recycling to develop a scenario of cascade utilization of retired power batteries on factory forklifts, becoming the first automaker in China to realize the cascade utilization of power batteries.
In May this year, the BMW Tiexi Plant Lida Plant officially launched the operation of the Green Elevator Energy Storage Project, that is, the BMW IX3 retired battery modules are transformed into cascade energy storage cabinets, and together with photovoltaic modules, they are transformed into "green photovoltaic and storage integrated stations" to meet the daily electricity needs of the plant.
Adhering to the strategic policy of "electrification, digitalization and circular sustainability", the BMW Group is accelerating its sustainable transformation. Promote the construction of a circular economy industrial chain for new energy vehicles and help the green development of the industry.