Daimler Buses, a division of Daimler Truck AG, has announced that its plant in Mannheim, Germany, will be transformed into a centre of competence for e-city buses, with a focus on producing electrically powered city buses and component production starting in 2024. The move is part of an agreement between the company’s management and the works council of EvoBus GmbH on the future of the German locations. The plant currently produces the Citaro and the electric eCitaro version.
Daimler Buses plans to invest around €150 million in its two German plants by the end of the decade. The Neu-Ulm site will remain the competence centre for coaches, with fully electric intercity buses to be produced there from the second half of the decade, along with coaches with battery-electric and hydrogen-based fuel cell drive systems from the end of the decade.
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Daimler Buses aims to offer CO2-neutral vehicles in all segments in Europe and Latin America by 2030 and sell only fully electric vehicles for city buses in Europe. The company is also working on e-coach drives in the ELCH project with partners.
To optimize the use of its European production network, Daimler Buses will move the complete bus bodyshell construction for both plants to the Holýšov site in the Czech Republic from 2028. In return, the company and General Works Council have agreed not to lay off employees for operational reasons until after 2033.
Till Oberwörder, CEO of Daimler Buses, said: “In intensive discussions with the works council, we have agreed on a target picture that is intended to ensure our long-term competitiveness. In this way, we are creating a long-term vision for our production sites in Mannheim and Neu-Ulm. We are and remain the only manufacturer that continues to produce city buses and coaches in Germany.”
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Bruno Buschbacher, Chairman of the General Works Council of EvoBus, added: “With the target picture for EvoBus, we have achieved a viable result. Both sides had to move in the negotiations. We have sustainably safeguarded our tradition-rich plants in Mannheim and Neu-Ulm and given our colleagues a reliable future perspective.”
The Mannheim plant is the competence centre for city buses of all drive types and employs 3,300 people, while the Neu-Ulm site is the competence centre for coaches of all drive types and employs around 3,600 people in central functions as well as in bus production.