MAN Truck & Bus says it will start mass-producing high-voltage electric batteries for its electric trucks and buses starting in 2025. The company is ready to invest 100 million eurosover the next five years in the Nuremberg, Germany factory which was once famous as a place combustion engine production.
The new battery plant will be running with a target to produce more than 100,000 battery systems per year. Initially, MAN staff would manufacture the batteries manually at Nuremberg in small series production for about two and a half years. Large-scale production construction will begin in mid-2023 and last until the end of 2024.
In its official website, Thursday (30/6/2022), MAN Truck & Bus said that this decision was future-oriented where a battery has become the heart of its electric commercial vehicle which will roll out in 2025.
The company that is part of Traton has some experience with small series vehicles coming out on the road since 2019, such as electric buses. The battery to be manufactured at Nuremberg consists of battery cells grouped into modules.
Depending on the range, the heavy electric truck requires up to six of those battery packs, resulting in a range of 600 to 800 km for the MAN truck, the company said. They expect a range of more than 1,100 km through its new generation battery technology from around 2026.
Battery production will also secure 350 jobs, and the MAN decision said it was made in close collaboration with employee representatives and with active support from local politicians.
The Bavarian State Government has pledged 30 million euros in funding between 2023 and 2027 to conduct research in battery assembly, cell chemistry and development, battery safety and battery recycling.
Alexander Vlaskamp, Chairman of the Executive Board, said MAN’s investment will enable “a Bavarian-made commercial vehicle e-cluster consisting of electronic truck production at MAN in Munich, battery production in Nuremberg, R&D and excellent cooperation with the respective universities.” colleges, universities and other institutes.
“We are now beginning to industrialize electromobility and continue our path towards climate-neutral mobility in commercial vehicles. This is an innovative location and investment decision for the next decade. At the same time, this is part of MAN’s transformation into a provider of sustainable transportation solutions.”
MAN has reportedly reformed its main plant in Munich into the eMobility Center and has unveiled 20 prototypes of its upcoming heavy-duty electric truck from there.
For the new battery plant, Markus Wansch, Chairman of the Works Council, added “good news that together we have succeeded in establishing battery series production in Nuremberg. The future of the site will also rest on the pillar of electromobility,” he said.
With the start of battery production, MAN Truck & Bus also hopes to strengthen its position in the Traton Group as a “competence partner for electromobility”.
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