How did BMW get so many carbon fiber for its manufacturing?

The inconspicuous carbon fiber is actually a "dark horse" in the world of new materials.

The tensile strength of a high-performance carbon fiber with only 1/10th the thickness of the hair,  can reach 7 to 9 times that of steel, and the specific gravity is only 1/4 of that of steel. At a high temperature of several thousand degrees, other fibers have already turned into Ashes, and carbon fiber stand still .

Carbon fiber is a very expensive material. Only top sports cars, racing cars, and modified cars use this luxury to build monocoque bodies.

BMW uses a lot of carbon fiber materials: carbon fiber wheels, middle mesh, luggage rack, front lip, side skirts, rear diffuser, exterior mirror cover, air conditioning outlet, lower center console panel, and so on.

We all know that carbon fiber is a very expensive material, and the production process is complex, resulting in insufficient output. According to relevant statistics, the cost of carbon fiber is US$20 per kilogram. In contrast, the cost of traditional steel materials is less than US$1 per kilogram. How to reduce costs and mass production is the biggest problem?

In order to produce carbon fiber, BMW established a joint venture company specializing in the production of carbon fiber accessories with German SGL Carbon SE as early as 2009. In 2014, the two companies invested an additional US$200 million to triple their annual carbon fiber production. The annual production capacity of carbon fiber has increased from 3,000 tons in the original two production lines to 9,000 tons in six production lines. The extra production capacity has been digested by the high-selling BMW 7 Series.

Due to the strategic importance of the project, BMW has made a rare move, that is, by purchasing 16% of the shares to counter the 10% of the shares purchased by Volkswagen, so as to ensure its Influence in Wiesbaden, Germany. Susanne Klatten, a member of the Quandt family (BMW's majority shareholder), also bought 27% of the shares of SGL, so BMW has far more control over the company than its competitors.

BMW's carbon fiber manufacturing needs to go through the following steps:

The first step: producing polyacrylonitrile fiber precursor, which is produced by the joint venture company of SGL and Mitsubishi Rayon in Otake, Japan.

The second step: The Moses Lake Plant, which was built after an additional investment of 200 million yuan, converts polyacrylonitrile fibers into real carbon fibers.

The third step: The second joint venture factory in Waksdorf, Germany will process carbon fiber into different types of woven materials.

The fourth step: These carbon fiber fabrics are shipped to BMW plants in Landshut and Leipzig for the production of auto parts.