BMW has offered a first look inside its new Plant Woodruff in South Carolina, where series production of high-voltage batteries for the fully electric BMW iX5 begins in December 2026. The site uses AI-supported processes, digital twins and virtual-reality training to build the company’s sixth-generation battery. It is one of five new battery plants BMW is placing close to its vehicle factories worldwide.

BMW has pulled back the curtain on its new battery plant in Woodruff, South Carolina, timed with the world premiere of the fully electric BMW iX5. Series production of the car’s high-voltage battery is scheduled to start in December 2026, and the company says the facility sets a new benchmark for how it assembles battery packs.

A plant built in three years

BMW broke ground in June 2023, with construction beginning that September. Installation of the manufacturing equipment started in September 2024 while building work was still under way, and preparations for production began in summer 2025. Test and pre-series batteries have been rolling off the line since then, ahead of the series launch this December.

“Plant Woodruff demonstrates how quickly we can scale a new battery concept to industrial production,” said Rich Everly, Vice President of Production at BMW Group Plant Woodruff, pointing to the exchange of experience across BMW’s production network.

AI, robots and a virtual factory

According to the manufacturer, every production step is monitored inline and documented in real time, with in-house AI assistants analysing the data alongside more than 300 employees and 250 robots to target what BMW calls zero-defect battery production. The company says the extensive use of AI also improves Overall Equipment Effectiveness.

Before the plant was commissioned, digital twins and virtual-reality applications supported planning and training. All production staff complete a VR program built on site, practising real manufacturing operations inside a detailed virtual replica of the plant’s lines using only VR goggles and a PC.

The Gen6 battery

The iX5 uses BMW’s sixth-generation (Gen6) high-voltage battery, built on 800-volt technology with new cylindrical round cells integrated directly into the pack on a “cell-to-pack” principle. Assembly involves connecting cells to coolers, laser-cleaning and welding the cell contacts, a foaming process that locks the elements into a single mechanical unit, and finally fitting the central control unit — the Energy Master — before a 100% end-of-line inspection. From Woodruff, finished batteries travel just 15 miles (24 km) to Plant Spartanburg, where the next generation of electric BMW X models is assembled.

BMW says the Gen6 cells use a high share of secondary cobalt, lithium and nickel, with renewable energy used to make the anode and cathode materials and the cells themselves. Compared with the Gen5 cell in the current BMW iX, the company puts CO₂e emissions at around 28 percent lower per watt-hour. The plant uses no fossil fuels in normal operations, and its industrial trucks run on hydrogen.

Local for local

Woodruff is part of a wider strategy to build battery assembly close to vehicle plants. Alongside the US site, BMW is adding facilities in Irlbach-Straßkirchen in Lower Bavaria, Shenyang in China and San Luis Potosí in Mexico, while series production has been running in Debrecen, Hungary, since October 2025.

“Plant Woodruff plays a key role in the ramp-up of electromobility in the US,” said Raymond Wittman, the BMW AG board member responsible for Production. Robert Engelhorn, President and CEO of BMW Manufacturing Co., added that the site “creates the ideal foundation for the next generation of fully electric BMW X models assembled at Plant Spartanburg.”

What it means for buyers

For customers, the headline figure sits in the car itself: the BMW iX5 60 xDrive carries an available energy content of 144 kWh in the US and 141 kWh in the EU (net), which BMW says is the largest battery fitted to any fully electric BMW to date. Power goes to both axles through electric BMW xDrive all-wheel drive. Battery series production begins in Woodruff in December 2026.

Facts: BMW iX5

  • Battery: Gen6 high-voltage, 800-volt, cell-to-pack round cells
  • Available energy (net): 144 kWh (US) / 141 kWh (EU)
  • Drive: electric motors on both axles, BMW xDrive all-wheel drive
  • Battery plant: BMW Group Plant Woodruff, South Carolina
  • Battery series production: from December 2026

Source: www.press.bmwgroup.com