HANNOVER/MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - The VW truck subsidiary Traton is examining the construction of a further battery factory for e-trucks of its MAN and Scania brands. Possible locations include Salzgitter, Krakow in Poland or Zwolle in the Netherlands, a MAN spokesperson told the German press agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

The considerations are still at an early stage. The decision on whether to build its own plant will probably be made in the fall, the spokesperson said. Production could start in the early 2030s at the earliest. Purchasing the electricity storage units from a supplier is also conceivable. The "Braunschweiger Zeitung" had previously reported.

According to the report, Lower Saxony's Economics Minister Olaf Lies was confident that the new Traton site could be brought to Salzgitter. "I am quite sure that we can make it clear in many places that Lower Saxony, and Salzgitter in particular, would be the ideal location," said the SPD politician. Traton's parent company Volkswagen is already building its own battery cell factory in Salzgitter, which is due to start up in 2025. MAN operates a component plant in the city, which has mainly supplied axles to date.

Daimler Truck starts construction in Mississippi

Stuttgart-based commercial vehicle manufacturer Daimler Truck, on the other hand, is building its first battery cell plant together with partners in the USA. Construction in the US state of Mississippi has begun and the ground-breaking ceremony has taken place, the company announced. Production is scheduled to start in 2027.

The associated joint venture Amplify Cell Technologies was already announced last September. Daimler Truck entered into a partnership with Accelera - a division of the US engine manufacturer Cummins - and the US truck manufacturer Paccar.

A plant covering more than 185,000 square meters with an annual production capacity of 21 gigawatt hours is now to be built on the 500-hectare site in Byhalia. In terms of figures, this would be enough for 35,000 electric trucks with a battery capacity of 600 kilowatt hours. More than 2,000 jobs are to be created in the factory.

Topping-out ceremony at MAN in Nuremberg in the fall

The new plant would be Traton's third own battery site after Sodertäje in Sweden, where production started in September 2023, and the MAN battery factory under construction in Nuremberg, which is due to open in 2025. MAN plans to celebrate the topping-out ceremony there in the fall. Unlike Daimler Truck and VW, no battery cells are to be produced here. The cells will be purchased externally and then assembled into batteries, said the spokesperson.

Up to 100,000 battery modules per year are to be produced in Nuremberg, which according to MAN would be enough for around 20,000 electric trucks. The same capacity is also planned for the new site. According to the Braunschweiger Zeitung, the investment volume would be around 200 million euros.

Joint site with Scania

In view of the planned ramp-up of electric trucks, it is already foreseeable that the capacities of the two existing plants will no longer be sufficient in the 2030s, according to the MAN spokesperson. For this reason, the company is already looking into how battery production can be expanded. Unlike the two existing MAN and Scania factories, the new site will then supply both Traton brands.

MAN plans to start delivering its new eTGX electric truck this year, with 1,500 units to be sold next year. MAN aims to deliver every second truck with an electric drive by 2040. According to the company, that would be around 40,000 per year./fjo/DP/jha