Mercedes Star
The car manufacturer is currently building several battery cell factories.
Stuttgart The head of works council at Daimler’s headquarters in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim warns of the one-sided focus on electromobility, “The battery is incredibly important to us, but you can not rely on just one pillar,” said Michael Häberle of the German Press Agency. “I do not know if we can afford to force only the mainstream battery, and then we might get hung up on the hydrogen issue.”
Daimler is currently building battery factories worldwide for more than a billion euros to supply his future electric cars. Although the manufacturer no longer manufactures battery cells, it buys them from external suppliers. The batteries for the electric cars will continue to build the car maker but in the future.
In Untertürkheim, the foundation stone for such battery production will be laid on Friday. In total, eight new battery productions are to be created worldwide – in addition to the existing factory in Kamenz, Saxony. To the strategy for the change on new drive types it had last dispute between BMW and VW given.
VWCEO Herbert Diess advocated to focus on the battery powered electric cars, BMWChief Harald Krüger wanted to remain open to other technologies. The two as well DaimlerChief Dieter Zetsche then agreed on the line that battery-electric cars and hybrids are “the order of the day”.
Current club events
Tuesday, 02.04.19, 10:00 Berlin: Handelsblatt Annual Conference “Company pension scheme”
Friday, 05.04.19, 09:30 Düsseldorf: Workshop organization design
Tuesday, 09.04.19, 09:00 Düsseldorf: Handelsblatt Annual Conference “Chemistry”
Tuesday, 09.04.19, 18:30 Munich: Club talk with Nicolas Peter
Monday, 06.05.19, 11:00 Berlin: Book presentation “Europe can do better”
Tuesday, 07.05.19, 09:15 Frankfurt am Main: Handelsblatt Annual Meeting “Restructuring”
Daimler has also been researching hydrogen technology since the 1980s. “At Untertürkheim we are working on the fuel cell and developing it for mass production,” said Häberle. Several small series were equipped with the drive. Last year, an off-road vehicle with electric motor came on the market, which is powered by electricity from the socket and from the fuel cell.
Automaker: Despite sanctions – Daimler invests more than 250 million in new Russian plant
“That politics does not ensure that framework conditions and also the architecture in Germany I do not understand that, to make the topic of hydrogen attractive, “says Häberle. As it goes, for example, the expansion of the gas station network. “As long as the numbers are so low, that will never be a technology that the broad masses can afford.”
New technologies are particularly important for the Untertürkheim location. At the Daimler headquarters, internal combustion engines are manufactured for numerous other plants, including those in the USA and South Africa. If the number of electric cars increases and thus that of the required internal combustion engines decreases, tasks inevitably fall away.
The works council therefore wants to negotiate that the electronic powertrain will be manufactured there in the future. “When it comes to self-production of the electronic powertrain, we are at the beginning of the talks,” says Häberle. The construction of battery production in Untertürkheim in 2017 was preceded by a week-long dispute in which works councils did not approve overtime over the weekend and thus paralyzed production.
BMW, Daimler. VW: The German car makers catch up on e-mobility – but have a big weakness
“What can not happen is that we are talking about transformation and have no real transformation. We have to take people from the old world into the new world, “says Häberle. “We have to rely heavily on our own training.”
Although Daimler has excluded operational layoffs for the permanent workforce for years, works council chief Häberle therefore calls for a steady hand: “What happens in a hauruck action, is the same as in Fukushima with the energy industry,” says Häberle.
“Without Fukushima, Germany would not have left nuclear power so quickly. And without VW and the diesel scandal, the car industry would not be driven at such a speed to implement the electric mobility, which may economically not healthy and in addition neglected the holistic view of the life cycle assessment.
*/
]]>
The most important news every morning in your inbox.