BMW is cooking up a new i7 and has partnered with a Croatian electric hypercar brand for the electric car’s high-voltage batteries.

BMW announced Rimac Technology, a division of Rimac Group, will supply the BMW-developed lithium-ion batteries for its flagship electric sedan, which will join BMW’s Neue Klasse (new class) of vehicles.

“We are quickly rolling out the technologies of the Neue Klasse across our entire model portfolio – including, of course, in our all-electric luxury sedan. The teams of both companies have developed a tailor-made solution for the new BMW i7,” said Thomas Engelhardt, senior VP, development high-voltage storage and charging at the BMW Group, in a news release. “The excellent collaboration with Rimac Technology is a good example of European innovative strength.”

The automaker said the electric 7 Series sedan will utilize BMW’s sixth-generation eDrive technology, with its 4695 lithium-ion cylindrical cells.

The cells have a 20 per cent higher volumetric energy density compared to the cells of the fifth-gen cells.

BMW said the new design of the batteries allows for significantly increased range and much faster charging.

The i7’s new batteries are manufactured at Rimac Technology’s facility in Croatia and are delivered ready for assembly to the BMW Group Plant Dingolfing where the 7 Series is produced.

“BMW has always been known for pushing engineering to the highest level, which made this collaboration especially exciting for us,” said Mate Rimac, founder and president of Rimac Group and CEO and CTO of Bugatti Rimac, in the release.

“Together, we developed a high-voltage battery system that unlocks the full potential of the new cylindrical cells in record time, delivering significant improvements in energy, range, and charging performance. We are proud to now see this system being produced at scale at our new Rimac Campus.”

The Neue Klasse i7 will be publicly revealed on April 22 at Auto China in Beijing.

About Rimac

Mate Rimac founded Rimac Automobili in 2009. It started after he converted a 1984 BMW 3 Series into an electric car in his garage after the engine blew.

The company has since gone on to create one of the quickest cars on the planet, the Rimac Nevera, and more recently the Nevera R, an all-electric hypercar with 2,107 hp and a top speed of 431.45 km/h.

In 2021, Rimac Automobili and Bugatti merged. The two car companies operate as separate brands under one ownership umbrella that is 55 per cent controlled by the Rimac Group and 45 per cent by Porsche, which itself is under the Volkswagen Group umbrella of companies.

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