BMW and SGL Group to raise carbon fibre production

DUE to the high demand for carbon fibre in automotive production, SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers is going to triple the capacity of the carbon fibere plant in Moses Lake, WA (USA). This has been announced by the joint venture partners, SGL Group and BMW Group, at the groundbreaking ceremony for the planned site expansion. The expansion will be funded by an investment of 200 million US dollars, in addition to the previously invested 100 million US dollars. The site expansion, scheduled to be completed by early 2015, will make the plant in Moses Lake the world’s largest carbon fibre plant.

With the anticipated creation of 120 new jobs, the headcount at the joint venture in Moses Lake is going to rise from currently 80 to about 200 people. Due to the automated production processes, the expansion of the site in Moses Lake will make it possible for the BMW Group to apply carbon fibre material also in other model series in the future, at competitive costs and in large quantities.

At present, the Moses Lake plant operates two production lines, exclusively for BMW i, with an annual output of approx. 3,000 tonnes of carbon fibre. Already this summer, SGL Automotive Carbon Fibers will commission a third and fourth production line in Moses Lake, which are currently being built, thus doubling the plant’s capacity to 6,000 tonnes per year. The recent groundbreaking ceremony for a fifth and sixth production line has been the first step toward tripling capacities to 9,000 tonnes annually in the medium term. The energy needed for the carbon fibre production is fully generated from hydropower.

The carbon fibre plant in Moses Lake is a key element in the strategy pursued by the two companies, which anticipates the industrialised large-series production of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) for the application in future vehicle concepts. Up to now, carbon fibre produced in Moses Lake is exclusively used for the BMW i models. Since the start of the year, the Leipzig plant has built over 5,000 BMW i3 vehicles. At present, the production output stands at 100 units a day. Furthermore, the BMW Group has been applying the ultra-lightweight high-tech material also in its BMW M models for the past ten years.