BMW announced on Friday that it will triple the production capacity at the Mose Lake factory by early 2015 through a $200 million investment. The plant, jointly run with SGL Group, currently has the annual capacity to produce 3,000 tons of carbon fiber on two production lines, but that figure will grow to 6,000 tons by this summer. Once the entire project in completed early next year, the plant will be able to produce 9,000 tons of carbon fiber per year.
The investment will see employment at the Moses Lake plant, located about an hour and a half west of Spokane, grown from 80 to 200.
“CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastics) is a key material for the automotive industry of the 21st century,” said Dr. Klaus Draeger, Board Member Purchasing and Supplier Network at BMW AG. “In our endeavor to identify increasingly lightweight materials in order to reduce a vehicle’s weight and thus its fuel consumption and carbon emissions, this material plays a crucial role.”
Today BMW uses carbon fiber for its I electric and M performance vehicle, but Draeger promises the material will soon be used in regular production BMW models. However, no timeframe was given.
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