BMW Group says it has teamed up with Croatia’s Rimac Technology to develop a new high-voltage battery for the next all-electric BMW i7, bringing sixth-generation BMW eDrive hardware into the luxury saloon ahead of its debut at Auto China 2026 in Beijing on April 22.
At the centre of the project is BMW’s Gen6 battery tech, which uses new 4695 cylindrical lithium-ion cells.
BMW said these cells deliver 20% higher volumetric energy density than the prismatic Gen5 cells used before. That means it should help the new i7 go farther on a charge while also improving charging performance.
BMW also said the battery combines the new Gen6 cell chemistry with an established Gen5 module design rather than starting again from scratch.
That points to a pragmatic approach: bring in the new cell format and its gains in energy density, while keeping part of the existing battery architecture that is already proven in production.
Production is set to take place at Rimac Technology’s facilities in Croatia, where the battery packs are assembled and then shipped ready for installation at BMW Group Plant Dingolfing in Germany. BMW said Dingolfing remains the only plant building the 7 Series.
BMW senior vice-president for high-voltage storage and charging Dr Thomas Engelhardt said the project showed how quickly Neue Klasse technologies were being spread across the company’s line-up, including its flagship electric saloon.
Mate Rimac, founder and president of Rimac Group and chief executive and chief technology officer of Bugatti Rimac, said the joint programme led to a battery system that gets the most from the new cylindrical cells and is now being built at scale at the Rimac site.
BMW is not saving its newest EV battery tech only for Neue Klasse-badged models. It is also pushing that hardware into one of its most expensive electric cars, and doing so with help from a supplier better known, until recently, for far lower-volume performance machinery.
