Daimler Truck and Gehring Technologies have signed an agreement on a strategic partnership focusing on building up expertise in process development and prototype construction of commercial vehicle specific electric motors.
The strategic partnership with Gehring covers the prototypical construction of so-called “truck-e-fied” e-motors as well as the further development and testing of innovative production processes.
Gehring will also supply equipment for the technical centre, which is being set up at the Gaggenau plant. This is Daimler Truck’s competence centre for electric drive components.
Gehring, based in Ostfildern, Baden-Württemberg, stands for extensive know-how in the production of electric drive trains. The integrated portfolio includes production technology for manufacturing traction drives in electrified vehicles.
These designs combine efficient electric motor characteristics with high automation capability and process reproducibility. These are essential prerequisites for large-scale automotive production.
Yaris Pürsün, Daimler Truck Head of Global Powersystems Operation, said: “As part of the future target pictures of our German Powersystems sites, the InnoLabs play an important role.
“They analyse the powertrains of the future in terms of their commercial vehicle specific application as well as testing innovative production methods and processes. The agreement with Gehring for “truck-e-fied” e-motors is an important component here.”
Bernd Nagel, Gehring Group partner and CEO, said: “For a long time, we have experienced that coordinated development of products and manufacturing processes at an early stage leads to high-performance production systems.
“We are therefore all the more pleased to be able to work together with Daimler Truck to deepen our hairpin technologies specifically for the electric powertrain of trucks and buses. We are convinced that this strategic cooperation will enable us to significantly advance e-mobility in the heavy-duty vehicle sector.”
Last year, Daimler Truck and the Works Council agreed on key points for the future orientation and safeguarding of the Mercedes-Benz Powersystems plants. The three sites in Gaggenau, Kassel and Mannheim specialise in different components for electrified drive systems.
Together with the important sister plant in Detroit, they are driving forward the global production of battery-electric and hydrogen-based drive systems in a production and technology network for electric drive components and battery systems.
The Mercedes-Benz plant in Gaggenau, which until now has specialised in heavy-duty commercial vehicle transmissions, is continuously developing into a competence centre for electric drive components as well as the assembly of hydrogen-based fuel cell drive components. the plant already supplies components for eActros and eEconic to the Wörth site.
The Mercedes-Benz plant in Kassel is expanding its previous focus on commercial vehicle axles and will become a competence centre for electric drive systems. The Mercedes-Benz plant in Mannheim, the leading plant for commercial vehicle engines, is utilising the more than 25 years of experience of the Competence Center for Emission-free Mobility (KEM) located at the plant and focusing on battery technologies and high-voltage systems.
As part of the partnership concluded in May with the German engineering company Manz, Daimler Truck will set up its own pilot battery cell production facility at the “InnoLab Battery” located at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Mannheim. This lays an important foundation stone for future battery technology expertise.
Manz AG is a globally active high-tech engineering company with a focus on the automotive industry and electro mobility. The Reutlingen-based company has more than 10 years of process and product experience in plant engineering for cell and battery production.
The “InnoLab Battery” thus lays the foundation for the future competence of proprietary battery technology within Daimler Truck. It generates know-how for the production of lithium-ion battery cells and their commercial vehicle-specific application. The findings will also form the basis for future decisions regarding the vertical range of manufacture for the company’s own battery systems.
Earlier this year, Daimler Truck, along with TRATON GROUPand the Volvo Group, announced it had completed the final step in forming the previously announced joint venture for charging infrastructure in Europe.
