Daimler Builds Two New Battery Factories

Daimler is building two new battery factories in Sindelfingen and Untertürkheim - increasing the number to eight production sites.

Mercedes-Benz Cars is investing more than 1 billion euros in a global battery production network within the worldwide production network of Mercedes-Benz Cars. Mercedes Benz Cars will then have a total of six locations on three continents. Capacity at the Powertrain plant in Untertürkheim alone is quadrupling. Construction of the two new factories is scheduled to begin in the next decade.

"We are working to implement our electrical offensive at full speed and are consistently expanding our global battery production network. Our network enables us to flexibly manufacture vehicles with combustion engines and electric vehicles," says Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Cars, Production and Supply Chain.

In future, the Sindelfingen plant will also produce autonomous cars in Factory 56, which are equipped with the corresponding software and sensors. "With battery production and self-driving cars we pave the path of technologies and workplaces of the future," says Ergun Lümali, Works Council Chairman of the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen site.

The battery production network currently consists of six factories at five locations on three continents:

• Production of the batteries in Kamenz has been underway since 2012 and a second battery factory is currently under construction at the site.
• In Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, battery production is planned in the Brühl part of the plant.
• In addition, Daimler and BAIC are building a local battery production facility at the existing site in Yizhuang Industrial Park in Beijing (China).
• The construction of a battery factory near the existing Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa (USA) is planned.
• Together with local partner Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant (TAAP), Mercedes-Benz Cars will set up battery production in Bangkok (Thailand) by 2020.