BMW is partnering on MAI Carbon Cluster Management GmbH, a research effort backed by Germany's federal government, research and businesses institutions, which is working on a technology to reduce carbon-fiber production costs by 90%.
The $102 m research effort is aimed at utilising the new technology for large-scale manufacturing of cars, reported Bloomberg.
MAI partners include Airbus Group NV, Siemens and SGL Carbon SE that have a joint venture with BMW for the production of carbon fibers used in BMW i3 AND i8.
Bloomberg reported MAI Carbon Cluster Management Head of the project Klaus Drechsler as saying: "We've certainly reached a halfway point on our cost-cutting target for suitable carbon-fiber parts."
"We'll see a lot more carbon-fiber use in the next generation of cars."
BMW started rolling out the i3 almost a year ago in November and sold more than 10,000 pieces of the model in the first nine months of this year.
Reports suggest that Oak Ridge Carbon Fiber Composites Consortium is also working on a similar project in the US.
