Following Tesla’s (NASDAQ:$TSLA) ambitious initiatives in the electric vehicles industry, automaker Daimler (OTCMKTS:$DDAIF) have recently announced that the company will be speeding up its electric cars plans by 3 years, expecting to spend $11 billion on developing and producing 10 models by 2022. This, in addition to a new battery factory the company officially unveiled on May 22, 2017, confirms Daimler’s commitment to keep up with the rapidly changing transportation industry.
The 500 million Euros investment that Daimler made last year in a new battery factory in Kamenz, Germany, has officially been made a reality. The investment was made through Daimler’s subsidiary battery production company ACCUmotive. As such, the inauguration of the year-long construction project was quite an event that day. Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel, along with Minister President of Saxony Tillich, Chairman of the Board of Daimler and Head of Mercedes-Benz (subsidiary of Daimler) Dieter Zetsche, Head of Powertrain Production and Site Manager Mercedes-Benz Plant Unterturkheim Frank Deiss, and Managing Director of Deutsch Accumotive GmbH & Go. KG (traded privately) Frank Blome laid together the casing of a vehicle battery as the foundation stone of the new factory.
Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche then spoke about what he hopes the new factory can help Daimler achieve — stating that as the automotive industry faces a fundamental transformation, Daimler will be behind that change. The Kamenz, Germany-based new battery factory is one of the most important components for allowing Daimler to achieve its goals, Zetsche added. The CEO seemed confident in the company, saying that by 2022, Daimler will have more than 10 pure electric vehicles in its series. In addition to this, Zetsche stated that Daimler will continue to push and develop its hybrid vehicles, creating an entire ecosystem for e-mobility through the EQ brand.
The factory is expected to go into operation in mid-2018, just as Mercedes’ new EQ SUV — the first all-electric vehicle for the car company — go into production. While the capacity of the plant has yet to be confirmed, many believe that it will be in the gigawatt-hour range and that over 1,000 workers will be employed at the new battery factory.
Besides developing battery factories and the new EQ SUV, Daimler also have several electric vehicle related projects in the works, like the development of its all-electric Urban eTruck and the building of 1,500 all-electric Mercedes-Benz vans for Germany’s biggest independent logistic firm, GmbH.
Daimler is also not just relying on ACCUmotive for its battery supply, having formed a partnership with Korean battery manufacturer SK Innovation (KRX:$096770). SK Innovation has just recently announced that it will be doubling its battery production to 4GWh a year due to high demand.
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