Rimac Technology will manufacture the battery system for the new BMW i7, with the car set to make its world premiere at Auto China 2026 in Beijing on April 22. It’s the first BMW Group BEV to feature Gen6 4695-format cylindrical cells—combined with Gen5 module-based technology in a scalable architecture—and the first production vehicle to emerge from the two companies’ technology partnership, established in 2023.
The 4695 format (46 mm diameter, 95 mm height) is BMW’s latest cylindrical cell, developed as part of the Neue Klasse architecture. The jointly developed system integrates those cells into a Gen5 module structure, delivering what the companies describe as significant improvements in energy, range and charging performance.
Production is entirely at the Rimac Campus near Zagreb. Rimac built two full production lines and an end-to-end supply chain for the program in just a few years—one of the largest industrial construction projects of its kind in Europe. The facility spans 90,000 m², and the area dedicated to this BMW program is 15,000 m². Seventy percent of the campus’s total capacity is committed to battery system production across multiple OEM programs.
“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,” said Mate Rimac, Founder and President of the Rimac Group.
Thomas Engelhardt, Senior Vice President Development High-Voltage Battery and Charging at BMW Group, said the company is “rapidly rolling out the technologies of the Neue Klasse across our entire model portfolio—naturally including our fully electric luxury sedan.”
Source: Rimac Technology
