BMW is vowing to stay the course in its commitment to electric vehicles, investing billions of dollars in new battery technology, including a new controller it calls the "Energy Master." The German automaker says it still plans to offer an EV in every vehicle segment across all of its brands, including Mini and Rolls-Royce.

As the global appetite for EVs slows down, BMW is doubling down on its electrification strategy, aiming to take the lead from Tesla and fend off the coming tidal wave of Chinese EVs. The company has developed new technology to make its EVs lighter, more efficient, and cheaper to manufacture, all while keeping production lines around the world working to turn out a wide variety of vehicles with different powertrains.

Last March, BMW announced its Neue Klasse, the new all-electric architecture that will underpin its future EVs. As the company continues to trickle out details of the new technology, it invited a group of journalists to Munich last month to show off its newly developed battery cells, the Energy Master control module, and the Neue Klasse motors — all developed in-house.

The new powertrain promises better efficiency, more range, and more energy density. The cylindrical batteries alone offer 30 percent more range, 30 percent faster charging, and 20 percent more energy density, BMW claims. The company has developed new technology to make its EVs lighter, more efficient, and cheaper to manufacture, all while keeping production lines around the world working to turn out a wide variety of vehicles with different powertrains.

BMW's new so-called "Gen6" battery pack, which will underpin the Neue Klasse vehicles, will filter throughout the company's brands. The previous Gen5 batteries are prismatic battery packs installed in the vehicle's underbody. These rectangular CATL and Samsung SDI batteries are packaged together in large rectangular packs, used in vehicles like the BMW i3 and i4.

The Gen6 batteries will be installed in the company's Neue Klasse vehicles well before the rest of the car is built, at the stage where the vehicle is still a "body in white" skeletal frame. The new cell-to-pack model allows for the pack-to-open-body process to install the battery pack, with its control module situated under the rear seats. The battery pack becomes the structural floor of the vehicle rather than a bolted-on piece, adding rigidity and torsion strength, making it part of the 800-volt architecture rather than a platform that future vehicles sit on.

The company has also developed a new battery controller, the "Energy Master," which sits atop the Gen6 pack. The Energy Master offers power management for both the high voltage vehicle and drivetrain systems and the low voltage systems in the vehicle like windshield wipers and climate control. It will also handle bidirectional charging, allowing the Neue Klasse models to handle vehicle-to-home (V2H), vehicle-to-load (V2L), and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) functions.

BMW manufactures the Energy Master in-house at its retooled plant in Landshut, Germany, about an hour from Munich. The factory uses robots on a highly flexible and clean-room-style assembly line. It also relies heavily on AI-assisted image recognition to ensure that parts are installed correctly.

The company is teaming up with SK tes to recycle old EV batteries into high-quality metals that can be reused in new battery production. The aim is to create an entirely circular chain of production for the company's batteries.

BMW plans to source the batteries from EVE Energy and CATL in China but will assemble the battery packs itself at manufacturing sites near where the vehicles will be built — something that BMW refers to as "local-for-local" manufacturing. One such facility is currently being built in Woodruff, South Carolina, near BMW's plant in Spartanburg, where it manufactures the X3 both for the US market and for export to countries around the world.

The company's commitment to electrification is significant, with BMW AG Group board member Joachim Post saying that the electrification investment that BMW has made alone represents "the project of the century, and the biggest investment in the history of the company." BMW has been investing in electrification since 2009, when the Mini E was launched. The company wouldn't share a total investment figure, but back-of-the-envelope math indicates it's well into the billions of dollars.

Despite the increasing regionalization that's taking place in countries like the US, where President Donald Trump's tariffs would deeply impact the automotive sector, BMW seems unfazed and is continuing to move forward. The company's philosophy is that production follows the markets, and the supply chain follows the production. With a huge footprint in the US, BMW is confident that it can navigate the challenges ahead and stay ahead in the EV market.