SAN LUIS POTOSI, Mexico — BMW plans to take a position 800 million euros ($866 million) within the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi to supply high-voltage batteries and absolutely electrical Neue Klasse fashions.

The enlargement, set so as to add round 1,000 new jobs at its operations within the Mexican state, is BMW’s newest push into electrical automobiles because it seems to transform greater than half of its gross sales into all-electric automobiles by 2030, the corporate mentioned in an announcement.

Greater than half of the funds to be invested in Mexico — 500 million euros — are earmarked for the battery meeting heart on the carmaker’s current plant grounds, BMW mentioned, and a few 500 further workers will work there. One other 500 jobs can be created in different areas.

The remaining 300 million euros will go to adapting and lengthening the physique store and constructing a brand new meeting line to put in the battery packs, plant head Harald Gottsche informed Reuters.

“We’ll begin constructing, establishing the extensions and the brand new battery meeting at first of 2024, and we’ll begin (to ramp up) manufacturing at first of 2027,” he mentioned.

BMW builds the three Collection, 2 Collection Coupe and the brand new M2 on the plant, which opened in 2019.

The announcement follows a number of different main expansions from the automaker in latest months, together with a $1.7 billion funding within the U.S. and a 2-billion-euro push to construct an EV manufacturing unit in Hungary.

BMW will begin manufacturing of the primary Neue Klasse electrical automobiles at its new plant in Debrecen, Hungary in 2025, adopted by its most important plant in Munich, Germany.

The plant in Hungary has been pitched as the primary of BMW’s to be fully fossil-free. Gottsche added the Mexico plant was within the course of of accelerating its photo voltaic manufacturing on-site and swapping out pure gasoline for biomethane.

“We need to beat the Hungary plant, after all,” Gottsche mentioned.

The push comes as producers worldwide shift to adjust to extra stringent environmental rules to mitigate their affect on local weather change.

Mexico has additionally more and more made the push for EVs because it seems to show half of auto manufacturing electrical by 2030.

Whereas some business leaders have solid doubt on that objective, Gottsche mentioned BMW’s gross sales in Mexico have been already 30% hybrid or absolutely electrical.

“We’ll want far more renewable vitality” to make the change, Gottsche mentioned.