Caution: The following video is not suitable for viewing by children under the age of 17—unless you want them to grow up to be automotive or robotics engineers.
For everyone else, be warned that this video is 40 minutes long and depicts the assembly of a BMW i3 automobile. If you can’t take watching how a state-of-the-art electric car is put together in a state-of-the-art car assembly plant, we suggest you Google “cat videos” and watch them for the next 40 minutes instead.
The BMW i3 is not only an example of how BMW builds green cars today; it previews how many BMWs—or at least parts of them—will be built in the future. Note that much of the i3 is built using lightweight aluminum and carbon-fiber reinforced plastic. These materials are becoming more prevalent in BMWs. It’s hard to imagine that in years to come, any BMWs will be built without using these materials and production methods pioneered on the i3 line.
The assembly of the battery modules is also something that will occur more frequently in BMW production, since many, if not most, BMW model lines will have plug-in hybrid versions.
The company has been a proponent and user of robots in the assembly process for decades. The people who designed the BMW i3 are obviously talented, forward-thinking engineers. After watching this video, we can’t help but believe that the people who designed the manufacturing and assembly robots are even more so.
So if you have the patience and the interest, enjoy the i3 production video. It’s similar to watching movies like Apollo 13. You know how it’s going to end; the interesting part is seeing how they get there.—Scott Blazey
[Photos and video courtesy of BMW Media Group through europeanautosource.]
