Daimler spends €20 billion on battery cells

Daimler has gone on a shopping spree, ordering battery cells to the value of a whopping €20 billion (about R324 billion). The orders will ensure that the company has a steady supply of battery cells until 2030.

The battery cells will be used across its product range – in anything and everything from cars to buses and trucks. By 2022, the entire Mercedes-Benz car portfolio will be electrified, with various electrified alternatives available in every segment.

In total, there will be well over 130 variants, from the 48-volt electrical system to EQ Boost and plug-in hybrids and more than ten all-electric vehicles powered by batteries or fuel cells. By 2025, sales of battery-electric vehicles are expected to increase to 15 to 25 percent of total unit sales.

In a similar vein, Mercedes-Benz Vans is electrifying its entire commercial fleet. This started with the all-electric eVito mid-size van (deliveries commenced in November 2018). The eSprinter will follow in the second half of 2019.

As FOCUS readers know, the company has already made inroads into the electric-truck market. Deliveries of its first all-electric truck in series production – the Fuso eCanter light-duty truck – commenced in 2017.

The all-electric eActros for heavy-duty distribution transport has also been proving its worth on Germany’s roads since June 2018. In September last year, Mercedes-Benz Trucks handed over the first of a total of ten eActros trucks to a customer for use in everyday operations.

Series production in the bus segment began in 2018 and the first Mercedes-Benz eCitaro was recently delivered to Hamburg’s public-transport operator, Hamburger Hochbahn.