Mercedes-Benz Trucks has opened a new development centre for electric motors at its Gaggenau plant. The 'Technikum' technical centre will work on process development and prototype construction of electric motors specifically for commercial vehicles.
According to the press release, the technical centre houses a range of “state-of-the-art machines” that have been specially developed for the production of electric drives. To this end, Daimler Truck entered into a cooperation with the Baden-Württemberg specialist Gehring in autumn 2022. The jointly operated “technical centre” will now build prototypes of so-called “truck-e-fied” electric engines and further develop and test the production processes.
Around 20 employees currently work in the 900-square-metre facility. In addition to office and meeting rooms, there is also a so-called clean room, which is used for measurements with special cleanliness requirements and stable temperatures. Over the course of 2023, the layout of the technical centre was simulated in order to optimise the hall layout. In order to pass on the knowledge generated in the technical centre, a learning workshop is also integrated into the premises, for example, to train apprentices.
One of the key areas of development will be hairpin windings. Here, solid copper rods in the eponymous hairpin shape form the coils for the stator’s electromagnet, which ensures a higher copper fill level compared to coils made of wound copper wire – and therefore a higher energy density. However, there is no indication of when electric motors with this technology will be used in electric trucks with the three-pointed star.
Daimler Truck and the works council had already agreed in 2021 that the company’s aggregate plants should focus on various components of electrified drives. The Kassel plant is expanding its previous focus on commercial vehicle axles to include electric drive systems. In Mannheim, the leading plant for commercial vehicle engines, the plan is to build the competence centre for zero-emission mobility (KEM) located there. Gaggenau, which specialises in heavy commercial vehicle transmissions, is to develop into a centre of excellence for electric drive components and the assembly of hydrogen-based fuel cell units. The Gaggenau plant already supplies components for the battery-electric eActros 300/400 and eEconic trucks to the Wörth site.
“The Gaggenau plant is in the middle of a transformation. The opening of our technical centre represents an important milestone in this process,” says Thomas Twork, site manager for the Gaggenau plant. “This is where we will develop innovative technologies and associated production processes for electric motors in the future. I would like to thank everyone involved, who have been working hard on this project for many months.”