When BMW announced a long-term battery partnership with Rimac Technology in 2024, it was initially assumed that the collaboration would flow directly into the Neue Klasse program. It seemed like the logical pairing: an all-new EV platform meets one of the industry’s most advanced battery specialists. But shortly after the deal was announced, German media reported a clarification from BMW that dashed those expectations. In an interview with Golem.de, a BMW spokesman explained at the time that the cooperation had “no connection with the new class planned for 2025” and rather supported BMW’s efforts to “offer fully electric solutions on other platforms as well”.
New class models use Gen6 technology
This detail significantly changes the context of the partnership. BMW has already converted the first wave of New Class models – starting with the next-generation iX3 and the electric 3 Series – to its in-house Gen6 cylinder cell technology. These batteries are well advanced in industrialization, with several global plants under construction and vehicles already testing full packs. Nothing Rimac contributes at this point can change or replace this development.
Where could Rimac fit in?
But BMW’s clarification also raises an equally important question: If Rimac’s batteries are not intended for the Neue Klasse, where will the company use them? The answer could lie in BMW’s existing electric range, particularly the CLAR architecture-based models such as the i5 and i7. These vehicles will continue to exist well beyond the middle of the decade, and although they will receive facelifts, BMW has already indicated that these updates will not include a switch to cylindrical Gen6 cells. The two platforms are fundamentally different and a mid-cycle switch is both technically demanding and expensive.
This creates a potential gap between BMW’s rapidly evolving battery technology and the rest of its electric portfolio. While the New Class brings major advances in efficiency, charging performance and energy density, the current i5, i7 and iX still use prismatic Gen5 cells that were originally developed several years ago.
Rimac’s involvement comes at a time when such upgrades would be strategically useful. The Croatian company has developed a wide range of high-voltage battery formats over the last decade, from structural H- and T-shaped packages to advanced cooling strategies for sustained high loads. At the IAA 2025, Rimac Technology also presented its next-generation solid-state solutions as well as the further development of current batteries and e-axles.
While Rimac is best known for its hypercar applications, the new agreement with BMW was not designed as a niche, low-volume supply deal. Rimac itself described the program as the “largest and most ambitious project” in its history and confirmed that “a significant part” of its Zagreb campus will be dedicated to building the necessary automated production lines.
This scale suggests broader application than halo models or limited performance cars. It is more in line with BMW’s need to keep its current electric range competitive alongside the more advanced Neue Klasse vehicles coming to market from 2025. If BMW intends to offer higher density or more efficient battery systems for CLAR-based electric vehicles throughout their life cycle – without introducing Gen6 cylinder cells – Rimac is one of the few partners able to deliver an alternative solution that meets the limitations of the existing platforms.
No confirmation from either company yet
Whether such a plan will be implemented remains unconfirmed and currently remains pure speculation. Both companies have said that further details about the collaboration will be announced at a later date, and neither has commented on how the Rimac-built systems will be positioned within BMW’s broader battery strategy.
It is clear that BMW wants to operate several electric platforms in parallel for the rest of the decade. The company will continue to sell the i5 and i7 on the current CLAR architecture until at least 2029. Then new products such as iX5, iX6 and iX7 will continue to run on CLAR, but these will have Gen6 technology. So the partnership with Rimac has to fit somewhere and could come at a time when BMW’s electric vehicles would benefit from significant technological advances ahead of the Neue Klasse. It’s also possible that Rimac Technology is working on other battery solutions that could also find their way into other future BMW products.
Until BMW outlines the exact deployment, the scope of the collaboration remains one of the most intriguing unknowns in the brand’s electrification roadmap. However, the question is not whether Rimac batteries will appear in future BMWs, but rather which ones – and when BMW plans to introduce them.
[Images by Rimac Newsroom]
