Steyr under power

New BMW production: that’s how tight the schedule is

Hall 52 on the factory premises is a hive of activity: machines are being explained, tested, drilled and hammered. Pre-series production of the drives starts in mid-July.

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

Around one billion euros is being invested in the BMW plant in Steyr (Upper Austria) for the assembly of e-drives, which will go into series production next year. Hammering and drilling is still underway, 130 systems are being coordinated. Initial production will start in just a few weeks - but only for testing purposes for the time being.

"I have an office, but I haven't been there for a long time. My working day starts here and ends here," says Werner Schröder. By "here", the head of assembly planning means Hall 52 at the BMW plant in Steyr.

No other site of the vehicle manufacturer produces as many engines as the one in Upper Austria, and now the latest generation of electric drives are also being added.

Werner Schröder is the head of planning for assembly. Construction of the facilities began in January.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Markus Wenzel (2))

Production of the pre-series will start in mid-July. The weeks until then mean pure stress: for plant manufacturers and suppliers, their employees and for BMW Steyr employees, who will receive their first training on the new systems next week, on which 60 electric drives per hour are to be produced from fall 2025.

Second assembly line to be set up from spring 2025
The first assembly line has a capacity of just under 300,000 units, and a second line will be set up from spring next year. Around one billion euros will be invested in this project by 2030.

Series production for the next generation of e-drives will start here in 2025.

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

The first 130 systems have been under construction since January, interlocking over four floors: robots move the parts from A to B, lasers apply the motor number to the housing, and the gearbox, stator, rotor, inverter and housing will move on the roller conveyors.

The biggest challenge lies in the simultaneity: our aim is to reliably deliver high-quality drives to our vehicle plants - currently petrol and diesel engines, but from next year also the electric drives for the New Class.

Klaus von Moltke, Leiter des Werks von BMW in Steyr

Bild: BMW Austria

There have already been trial runs in the subsections, now it's all about the details and the big picture, the developers are already waiting for the pre-series products. Intensive and lengthy tests are imminent. "We don't produce for fun and games," says Schröder.

"Ever tougher competition"
Klaus von Moltke is head of 4700 employees at the BMW plant in Steyr. Last year, more than 1.2 million petrol and diesel engines were produced at the site. He spoke to the "Krone" about...

• Uncertainties surrounding e-mobility: "We are convinced that e-mobility will play a key role in the decarbonization of individual mobility. However, we also believe that we will continue to see different technologies coexist on the global market for a long time to come."

• Steyr's role in electrification at BMW: "Our goal is to be able to deliver the quantities of the new e-drives required by the vehicle plant in Debrecen in the best possible quality from fall 2025 and thus once again prove ourselves as a Steyr location in a time of increasingly fierce competition. We plan to employ around half of our workforce in e-mobility by 2030."
• The current capacity utilization of the plant: "We have good and stable capacity utilization - in assembly and in mechanical production. On average, we are currently running three shifts on our assembly lines from Monday to Friday."