Daimler opens Battery Technology Center in Germany

On July 19, Daimler Truck officially opened its Battery Technology Center (BTC) at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Mannheim, Germany. Two production areas will be created in the BTC: one to produce battery cells on a pilot basis to build up process knowledge; and a second for manufacturing prototype battery packs for test benches and test vehicles.

The Battery Technology Center at the Mercedes-Benz Mannheim plant. (Photo: Daimler Truck)

The Mercedes-Benz Mannheim plant, founded in 1908 in Mannheim-Waldhof on the Luzenberg, has over 4,600 employees and produces engines and related components for commercial vehicles. It is also Daimler Truck’s competence center for battery technology and high-voltage systems.

The BTC is positioned in the heart of the plant and covers an area of 7,500 sq. m. Over 60 new machines and systems are being installed, where the relevant processes for the prototypical production of battery cells and systems can be mapped, including coating technologies, welding processes, assembly and adhesive processes. A total of around 100 employees work at the BTC.

Yariş Pürsün, head of Global Powersystems Operation, Daimler Truck, said the aim of the center is to “to implement new technologies with high added value” at the company’s Powersystems plants.

“With the Battery Technology Center, the Mannheim site is laying an important foundation for the future competence of our own battery technology within Daimler Truck and is driving forward the transformation of our company,” Pürsün continued. “In parallel, a second Technology Center at our Gaggenau and Kassel sites is working on future electric drives and high-voltage components.”

The pilot line for battery packs at the BTC will be used to prepare for future series production, planned for the second half of the decade as part of the introduction of next-generation lithium-ion batteries at the plant.

“The opening of our Battery Technology Center is an important step in terms of electrifying our product portfolio – and yet another milestone in the history of innovation at the Mannheim plant,” said Andreas Gorbach, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck and responsible for Truck Technology. “We have decided to take care of the assembly of the future battery generation ourselves and thus keep important added value in-house.

“In and for Europe, we will do this at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Mannheim and thereby further strengthen the future of the location.”

Bruno Buschbacher, chairman of the Works Council Mercedes-Benz Plant Mannheim, described the BTC as “an important strategic part of the transformation of our traditional engine plant towards emission-free drives.”

“On the one hand, we will continue to build engines in Mannheim for a long time to come,” he said, “but at the same time, with the BTC we are creating the basis for the future series production of battery systems. This will secure jobs and the location as a whole.”

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