Daimler Truck to buy 10 per cent stake in Manz

Daimler Truck will take a stake of around ten per cent in the German engineering company Manz as part of a capital increase. Both companies are also planning a pilot line for the production of battery cells and battery assembly at the Daimler Truck site in Mannheim.

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Both companies want to bundle their know-how within the framework of the partnership. The aim is to develop innovative battery technology and associated production processes for trucks and buses.

Daimler Truck says that its investment in Manz, which is still subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities, is a strategically important step in the design of CO2-neutral transport and in the transformation from conventional drives to alternative drive technologies.

The Mercedes-Benz plant in Mannheim is the competence centre for battery technologies and high-voltage systems at Daimler Truck. Mannheim is already supplying the Mercedes-Benz plant in Wörth with battery packs for the series production of the all-electric eActros.

In the so-called “InnoLab Battery” in Mannheim, development and production areas work closely together, according to Daimler, to “generate innovative market solutions for trucks and buses”. In future, the company’s own lithium-ion battery cells will be developed in Mannheim, produced on a pilot line and assembled into complete battery systems.

Over 60 new systems will be set up in the coming months in the InnoLab, which covers around 10,000 square metres. By the end of 2024, the research findings are to be incorporated into the development of Daimler Truck’s battery-electric product platform. The “InnoLab Battery” will thus lay the foundation for future expertise in battery technology within Daimler Truck and “generate know-how for the production of lithium-ion battery cells and their commercial vehicle-specific application”. The findings from this will also be the basis for future decisions regarding the vertical range of manufacture for the company’s own battery systems.

Update 17 August 2022:

The engineering company Manz has received its first order as part of the cooperation agreement with Daimler Truck signed at the end of May 2022. This includes the first systems for cell assembly and electrode production for InnoLab Battery in Mannheim, Germany, currently under construction. In the final stage of expansion, the InnoLab Battery will be home to more than 60 systems on around 10,000 square metres. The order now placed with Manz has a total value in the low double-digit million euro range.

daimlertruck.com, manz.com (update)