Through cynical eyes, BMW’s i division is a hyper-costly experiment that hedges against strict emission laws, all so Munich can keep building cars that actually make a profit. While this is true, there are many tangible benefits to BMW’s advanced carbon fiber manufacturing—such as driving down the material’s cost and getting ahead of competitors—and now it has even drawn the praise of one Elon Musk. Yep, forget the diesel and hybrid Bimmers that sell for normal-ish money—Tesla CEO Musk is turned on by the i lineup’s exotic construction.
According to a Der Spiegel interview translated by Reuters, Musk has been chatting with BMW executives about a possible collaboration that would include the sharing of lightweight parts and batteries. Musk says he wants to open a battery plant in Germany within the next five to six years—his “Gigafactory” in Reno, Nevada will be online in 2017—and that the carbon fiber parts on the i3 and i8 were “relatively cost-efficient.” Tesla itself has not confirmed any deal with BMW, only that a “casual conversation” between a self-made billionaire and some German engineers did in fact happen.
As things sit, both companies are all-in on electrification and already have alliances at play. BMW is working with Audi and other researchers to develop carbon fiber that’s 90-percent cheaper as it triples material production to 9000 tons a year. It’s also tagging along with Mercedes to standardize wireless charging and recently signed a deal with Toyota to create more efficient lithium-air batteries (in addition to jointly-building a new sports car and advancing Musk’s favorite brand of haterade,hydrogen fuel).
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