Daimler invests €500M in new Li-ion battery factory in Germany
01 March 2016
Daimler is investing €500 million (US$544 million) to build a second battery factory in Germany to produce lithium-ion batteries for Mercedes-Benz and smart hybrid and electric vehicles.
This will triple the production space of Daimler subsidiary Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE, located in Kamenz. 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.
—Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars
By the end of 2014, the Daimler subsidiary had already announced its plans for a significant increase in its production capacities and an investment of around €100 million (US$109 million) in the expansion of the existing battery factory.
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.
In addition to supplying batteries for Daimler automobiles, Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE is also entering the stationary battery storage market for private and industrial applications.
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 large industry for network stabilization and smoothing of peak shaving for energy producers as well as private households.
Deutsche ACCUMOTIVE, founded in 2009, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler AG. The company develops and sells drive batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles based on lithium-ion technology. Since the start of series production in 2012, it has delivered more than 70,000 lithium-ion batteries.
Looks like they are following Telsa's lead, also going to be selling into the "stationary battery storage market". Good to have competition. I wonder if auto companies that don't build large battery factories now, will be uncompetitive very soon?
Posted by: Juan Valdez | 01 March 2016 at 07:23 AM
This is one more direct competitor for TESLA/Panasonic mega battery factory. There are many (12+) others such as BYD, LG, Samsung, Johnson & Johnson, ++++ already in production.
Who will mass produce the first 5-5-5 EV battery?
Posted by: HarveyD | 01 March 2016 at 09:35 AM
I think there may be some confused people here seeing a Daimler Megafactory a la Tesla in the desert.
It isn't.
Remember cell means cell, and a battery is a collection of cells. Deutsche Accumotive does not make cells. They got out of this business in 2014:
http://www.electric-vehiclenews.com/2014/11/germany-exits-ev-battery-cell.html
"We have realized that a car manufacturer does not have to produce the cells themselves," says Daimler-manager Harald Kröger in an interview with SPIEGEL.
This is about building BATTERIES.
Posted by: Herman | 01 March 2016 at 10:52 AM
To my understanding, they are not cell producer, but maker. DA retained research lab, they publish new researches (last one is dated by 2016) and these publications are about processes within cells. But due to economical issues now they have a contract with LG Chem for DA cells production
Posted by: Dmitry | 01 March 2016 at 11:04 PM
Apple, Microsoft and many others have been doing it for many years?
Posted by: HarveyD | 03 March 2016 at 10:12 AM