Bavaria promotes battery development at MAN
MAN has received four funding decisions from the Bavarian government worth almost €25 million. The sum is part of a technology funding programme to further develop high-voltage batteries for electric trucks and buses.
According to MAN, four of five funding projects have been approved by the Bavarian state government. The remaining sub-project is still in the application phase. The company does not mention the amount involved – it is probably between five and six million euros, as Bavaria had promised total funding of around €30 million. Exactly €24,160,400 were granted for the four approved funding projects.
A year ago, MAN announced it would build its battery factory at the Nuremberg site. Large-scale production will start at the beginning of 2025. Until then, the battery systems will be manufactured manually in small series – also in Nuremberg. At the time, it was said that the company would invest around €100 million at the manufacturing site for combustion engines.
The battery packs from Nuremberg will be used to equip the manufacturer’s electric trucks and buses. And MAN also provides an update on the timetable: While battery production will still be gradually ramped up with a new production facility and in a new hall from 2025, the groundbreaking ceremony will take place in autumn 2023. Previously, there was talk of construction starting in mid-2023.
When the new plant is up and running, the company says it will be able to mass-produce around 100,000 battery packs a year – enough for 15,000 to 25,000 vehicles, depending on the configuration. The only thing is: since MAN is calculating with an electric share of 50 per cent at least for trucks in 2030, that alone would correspond to 40,000 vehicles. “That is why we are already starting to think about further expansion stages,” says MAN CEO Alexander Vlaskamp. MAN currently manufactures its electric buses in Poland, while the heavy-duty MAN eTruck will be built in Munich starting in 2024.
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