Traton examines battery factory – Salzgitter hopes to win contract.
The VW truck subsidiary Traton is considering building another battery factory for electric trucks of its MAN and Scania brands . Possible locations include Salzgitter, Krakow in Poland or Zwolle in the Netherlands, a MAN spokesman told the German Press Agency.
The considerations are still in an early phase. The decision on whether to build a separate factory will probably be made in the autumn, said the spokesman. Production could start in the early 2030s at the earliest. Purchasing the power storage units from a supplier is also conceivable. The “Braunschweiger Zeitung” had previously reported this.
According to the report, Lower Saxony’s Minister of Economic Affairs Olaf Lies was confident that he would be able to bring the new Traton site to Salzgitter.
The SPD politician, said:
I am quite sure that we can make it clear in many places that Lower Saxony and especially Salzgitter would be the ideal location.
Traton’s parent company Volkswagen is already building its own battery cell factory in Salzgitter, which is scheduled to start operations in 2025. MAN operates a components plant in the city that has so far mainly supplied axles.
Daimler Truck starts construction in Mississippi
The Stuttgart-based commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck, on the other hand, is building its first battery cell plant together with a partner in the USA . Construction in the US state of Mississippi has begun and the groundbreaking ceremony has taken place, the company announced. Production is scheduled to begin in 2027.
The associated joint venture, Amplify Cell Technologies, was announced last September. Daimler Truck entered into a partnership with Accelera – a division of the US engine manufacturer Cummins – and the US truck manufacturer Paccar.
A more than 185,000 square meter facility with an annual production capacity of 21 gigawatt hours is now to be built on the 500 hectare site in Byhalia. This would be enough for 35,000 electric trucks with a battery capacity of 600 kilowatt hours. More than 2,000 jobs are to be created in the factory.
Topping-out ceremony at MAN in Nuremberg in autumn
For Traton, the new plant would be the third battery site of its own after Södertäje in Sweden, where production started in September 2023, and the MAN battery factory under construction in Nuremberg, which is scheduled to open in 2025. MAN plans to celebrate the topping-out ceremony there in the fall. Unlike Daimler Truck and VW, no battery cells will be produced here. The cells will be purchased externally and then assembled into batteries, the spokesman said.
Up to 100,000 battery modules per year are to be produced in Nuremberg, which MAN says would be enough for around 20,000 electric trucks. The same capacity is also planned for the new location. According to the “Braunschweiger Zeitung”, the investment volume would be around 200 million euros.
Shared location with Scania
In view of the planned ramp-up of electric trucks, it is already clear that the capacities of the two existing plants will no longer be sufficient in the 2030s, said the MAN spokesman. Therefore, the company is already examining how battery production can then be expanded. Unlike the two existing factories of MAN and Scania, the new location will then supply both Traton brands.
MAN plans to begin delivering its new eTGX electric truck this year, with 1,500 units to be sold next year. By 2040, MAN plans to deliver every second truck with an electric drive. According to the company, that would be around 40,000 per year.
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Traton examines battery factory – Salzgitter hopes to win contract. source