space.
AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars: "To get closer to fully electric
driving, we keep investing big in the key component of emission-free
vehicles: powerful batteries. We are now devoting another 500
million Euros to build a second battery factory in Germany."
electric vehicles of the brands Mercedes-Benz and smart.
Daimler consistently expands its activities in the area of
electromobility and invests around 500 million Euros in the construction of
a new battery factory. This will lead to a significant expansion of the
production capacities for lithium-ion batteries of Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE
located in the Saxon city of Kamenz. The new factory will produce batteries
for electric and hybrid vehicles of the brands Mercedes-Benz and smart. As
a first step, the full Daimler subsidiary has purchased about 20 hectares of
land adjacent to the existing battery factory.
"To get closer to fully electric driving, we keep investing big in the key
component of emission-free vehicles: powerful batteries. We are now
devoting another 500 million Euros to build a second battery factory in
Germany. This underlines our commitment to the consistent expansion of
electromobility", said Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of
Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
With the growing electrification of the automobile, the demand for highly
efficient lithium-ion batteries is also rising steadily. Through its entry into
the new business field with stationary battery storage for private and
industrial applications, Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE will tap into additional
growth opportunities.
By the end of 2014, the Daimler subsidiary had already announced its plans Page 2
for a significant increase in its production capacities and an investment of
around 100 million Euros in the expansion of the existing battery factory.
"With the purchase of the new land, our production area at the site will be
tripled. The previous 20,000 square meters will be stocked up by an
additional 40,000 square meters of production space. We will expand the
production capacity consistently in the coming years", said Harald Kröger,
Head of Development Electrics/Electronics and e-Drive Mercedes-Benz
Cars.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new factory is planned for fall 2016.
The topping-out ceremony will then follow in spring 2017. The new
production plant is to start operations in summer 2017.
Daimler entered into the business with stationary battery storage with
Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE last year. The scalability of the systems enables the
use of the lithium-ion batteries in big industry for network stabilization and
smoothing of peak shaving for energy producers as well as private
households, for example in conjunction with photovoltaic installations.
Mercedes-Benz energy storage units for private households can already be
ordered and will soon be installed at customers in collaboration with
selected sales partners. In the area of industrial applications, around 29
megawatt will be connected to the network jointly with different partners.