BMW has opened its new $700 million battery assembly plant in South Carolina, clearing the way for the first fully electric BMW to be manufactured in the United States.
But behind the celebrations lies a more complicated story: while BMW promotes its ‘local for local’ strategy, its original American battery supply chain has encountered setbacks, and some of the cells destined for its electric iX5 are being manufactured in China.
The opening of the Woodruff plant marks a milestone in BMW’s $1.7 billion American investment programme announced in 2022. Of that amount, $1 billion was allocated to preparing its Spartanburg vehicle factory for electric production, while $700 million went into the new battery facility, just 24 kilometres away.
Spartanburg is BMW’s largest vehicle production plant worldwide and the heart of its successful X-model family. By 2030, the German manufacturer intends to build at least six fully electric models there, starting with the new iX5 60 xDrive.
“Electromobility is our most important growth area,” says BMW production board member Raymond Wittmann. Electrifying its American SUV stronghold is therefore much more than a symbolic gesture.
A battery factory, but not a cell factory
Woodruff is the fourth of five facilities assembling BMW’s sixth-generation Gen6 batteries, following Debrecen in Hungary, Irlbach-Straßkirchen in Germany, and Shenyang in China. A fifth plant in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, follows in 2027.
At Woodruff, more than 300 employees work alongside 250 robots. Artificial intelligence monitors production, while digital twins and virtual reality help train workers and optimise quality. Every finished battery undergoes a complete inspection.
However, BMW assembles battery packs in Woodruff but does not manufacture the cells themselves. Those arrive from external suppliers, and that is where its American electrification story becomes more complicated.
American batteries, Chinese cells?
When BMW announced its US investment in 2022, Japanese battery manufacturer AESC was selected to supply cells from a planned $1.6 billion factory in Florence, South Carolina.
However, AESC suspended construction in June 2025, citing uncertainty over American EV policies and market conditions. Around $1 billion had reportedly already been invested.
That did not stop AESC from launching series production of its new 46120 cylindrical cells in July 2026. Measuring 46 mm in diameter and 120 mm in height, they offer an energy density of up to 310 Wh/kg, according to the manufacturer. The electric iX5 is the first announced BMW model to use them.
Although AESC did not identify the production sites, Chinese financial publication Blue Whale Finance reported that the cells are being manufactured at its factories in Cangzhou and Jiangyin, China.
BMW specialist publication BMWBLOG has meanwhile reported that AESC will continue supplying BMW as an interim solution.
This makes the origin of the first American iX5 batteries particularly interesting. BMW has not confirmed whether Chinese-made AESC cells are being shipped to Woodruff, but the originally planned local cell factory is not operating as envisaged.
New suppliers, but not immediately
Just four days before Woodruff’s inauguration, BMW announced additional Gen6 battery-cell agreements with LG Energy Solution in the United States and Samsung SDI in Europe.
Both companies will supply BMW from existing regional factories, but deliveries are not scheduled to begin until the late 2020s.
The agreements broaden BMW’s supplier network and reduce dependence on individual manufacturers. However, they do not resolve the question of where the first American-built iX5 models obtain their cells.
The Belgian connection: Umicore’s Canadian setback
The changing battery supply chain also has a Belgian dimension.
In October 2023, materials specialist Umicore announced a ten-year agreement with AESC to supply high-nickel cathode materials from 2026 to 2035. The original plan involved a major new factory in Loyalist, Ontario, serving North American battery manufacturers, including AESC and ultimately BMW.
But Umicore suspended construction of the Canadian project in 2024, citing weaker-than-expected EV demand and the need to control investment costs.
Instead, the Belgian company confirmed that its AESC supply agreement would be fulfilled from its existing plant in Cheonan, South Korea.
Consequently, two important elements of BMW’s originally envisaged North American battery ecosystem have been disrupted: AESC’s cell factory in South Carolina and Umicore’s cathode-materials factory in Canada.
The contractual relationship has not necessarily disappeared, but the supply chain looks considerably more international than initially planned.
Six electric BMWs and a multi-powertrain future
Despite these complications, Woodruff represents an important industrial achievement. BMW is now assembling its Gen6 batteries on three continents, supporting electric vehicle production close to its major markets.
The new iX5 60 xDrive combines an 800-volt electrical architecture with a battery of approximately 144 kWh and a preliminary US driving-range estimate of 435 miles, or around 700 kilometres. American deliveries are scheduled for early 2027.
Yet BMW is not putting all its eggs in the electric basket. The new X5 generation will also offer combustion engines and plug-in hybrid technology, while a hydrogen fuel-cell version is planned for 2028.
For BMW, the Woodruff opening demonstrates that its global electric production network is taking shape. The next challenge is ensuring that the cells inside those locally assembled batteries can eventually be manufactured just as close to home.
