BMW started series production of its sixth-generation (Gen6) high-voltage batteries in Shenyang, China, on Thursday. Shenyang is the third plant building the packs, after Debrecen, Hungary, and Irlbach-Straßkirchen, Germany. Its batteries go into the Neue Klasse models BMW builds in China. Irlbach opened on October 1 to supply the i3 that BMW now takes U.S. reservations for without a price.
Two North American plants come next. BMW says Woodruff, South Carolina, and San Luis Potosí, Mexico, start series production “in the coming months.” Woodruff will build packs for the iX5, the first fully electric BMW built in the U.S., at nearby Spartanburg. The Shenyang release doesn’t say where those U.S. packs get their cells.
Shenyang Batteries Supply China-Built iX3 and i3 Models
BMW’s Shenyang battery project cost 10 billion yuan ($1.49 billion), according to CnEVPost. Construction began in May 2023. The packs will first go into the iX3 and i3 that BMW Brilliance builds in China, starting with a long-wheelbase iX3 sold only in that market.
CnEVPost reports that deliveries of that China-only iX3 begin in November. The Energy Master, the control unit BMW mounts directly on each pack, started trial production at Shenyang’s powertrain plant in late September. Shenyang is the only site outside Germany that builds it.
BMW production board member Dr. Raymond Wittmann said Shenyang shows how the whole network works: “We manufacture locally, efficiently and close to our markets.”
BMW’s Gen6 Percentages Come Without Charging Conditions
BMW’s Shenyang announcement repeats the Gen6 claims: more than 20 percent higher energy density than the previous cell generation, and up to 30 percent faster charging and more range. It gives no kilowatt figure, no state-of-charge window and no test cycle for any of them.
The gains come from cylindrical cells mounted straight into the pack housing, with no module layer in between. BMW’s comparison point is its fifth-generation prismatic cells, so the percentages describe BMW against BMW, not against anything else on sale.
Woodruff Starts in December, With AESC Cells From an Unnamed Plant
BMW’s Woodruff plant in South Carolina begins series production of iX5 batteries in December 2026, according to BMW’s July 27 production preview, with more than 300 employees and 250 robots building packs that travel about 15 miles to the Spartanburg plant.
BMW’s own release says only that the cells come from “leading cell manufacturers.” Electrive reports that they are AESC’s 46120 cylindrical cells. AESC had started mass production of that cell by July and has not said which plant makes it.
BMW’s 2022 plan had those cells coming from a new AESC factory in Florence, South Carolina. AESC paused construction there in June 2025, citing “policy and market uncertainty,” and two months later EVXL reported BMW was weighing Chinese cells for its U.S.-built EVs.
The U.S. iX3 sidesteps the question for now. Every iX3 sold outside China is built in Debrecen, with Mexico adding production in 2027. That includes the $61,500 iX3 50 xDrive EVXL drove in White Plains, New York.
EVXL’s Take
BMW’s “local for local” line holds up for the packs and stops at the cells. BMW buys its cells from suppliers, and for the U.S. plant neither BMW nor AESC has named the factory that makes them. AESC runs cell plants in several countries, so the iX5’s cells could come from any of them. If they come from China, they pay the U.S. duties on Chinese battery cells that EVXL flagged when AESC parked Florence last year. BMW has already priced the iX5 at $81,250 including destination, so a duty on its cells comes out of that price or out of BMW’s margin. I’d want the cell plant named before the first iX5 reaches a buyer, not after.
Sources: BMW Group, CnEVPost, Electrive
EVXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.
