“It’s the start of something big”
From 2025, MAN will manufacture its own battery packs in a mass production facility in Nuremberg. The foundation stone for this key future project was laid on 10 October.
Nuremberg, a city of invention
When the decision was made to choose Nuremberg as the future competence centre for alternative powertrains, the close collaboration between industry and politics also played a key role in its success. Alongside support and backing from the Free State of Bavaria, the MAN team at the Nuremberg site was also instrumental. “MAN worked at an incredible pace, we can only learn from that,” said mayor Marcus König as he thanked the “absolutely amazing team”. “We are a city of invention, and we want to stay that way,” said the mayor. “We create products in Nuremberg that are bought all around the world.” Partnerships with local universities Friedrich-Alexander University and the Georg-Simon-Ohm Technical University ensured long-term support for the location. The Campus Future Driveline, launched on the factory site at the beginning of 2023, also created an important link between science and industry, said König. Ulrich Zimmer, manager of the MAN Nuremberg site, sees a hopeful future for the Nuremberg metropolitan area: “It’s the start of something really big!”
We started manual assembly of battery packs in 2021 and identified and secured all the critical processes “
Already undergoing field testing
The first batteries from the small-series production are already fitted in the new MAN eTrucks, which will be rolling out to the first few selected customers from 2024. To test and optimise the eTrucks in the field, LoadFox Transport Solutions GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of MAN Truck & Bus, is using the first fully electric MAN trucks on popular internal factory logistics routes to provide transport between German sites in Nuremberg, Munich, Dachau and Salzgitter. Polish MAN factories in Krakow and Starachowice are set to follow soon. “The targeted collection of data and experience from field testing has enabled us to significantly speed up the development and quality checks of hardware and software for future products and services,” explained LoadFox managing director Florian Hagemann. Future testing will increasingly include self-driving functions, too.
MAN’s preparations for the megawatt charging standard, likely to be available from 2025, mean that the new MAN eTruck offers daily ranges of 600–800 kilometres, ideal for longer distance travel, and prospectively even up to 1,000 kilometres with just one interim charge during the driver’s 45-minute break. However, the new MAN eTruck will also be able to cover the majority of the typical transport tasks undertaken by today’s trucks without any problem, such as quiet and emissions-free refuse collection in cities or the collection of milk from organic farmers with an electric food tanker.
Text: Ralf Kund
Photos: MAN
