Alternative Energy: BMW will invest €400 million in Megacity electric vehicle production facillity

BMW will invest €400 million in Megacity electric vehicle production facillity: "

Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Manufacturing/Plants, BMW

BMW Megacity - Click above for high-res image

How big of a deal is BMW's Megacity Vehicle (MCV)? Big enough that the company has created a multi-year plan to move the brand and its fans to the small, electric vehicle by 2013. This plan started with the Mini E tests and continues with the ActiveE field trials next year. Today, BMW announced it would expand its plant in Leipzig, Germany in order to build electric cars there on a "large scale." Between now and 2013, BMW will spend around €400 million (U.S. $564.6 million at today's exchange rate) upgrading the plant while creating around 800 new jobs there.

BMW's Leipzig plant is the company's most advanced and the MCV will need it. The small city car will be partly made with carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), a strong and lightweight material that BMW told AutoblogGreen earlier this year is 'an enabler of electric mobility.' In a statement today, BMW's Chairman of the Board of Management, Norbert Reithofer, said the MCV will revolutionize automotive design and production, while 'offering our customers the first purpose-built electric vehicle for urban areas.'

BMW also confirmed production of the Vision Efficient Dynamics (VED) concept, about which we'll have more in a bit. For the full details on the MCV, read this.

Gallery: BMW Electric Drive Components