According to Mercedes-Benz's plans, by 2030, as long as market conditions allow, the company will be fully electrified. To achieve this goal, the company plans to work with partners to build 8 battery factories around the world by 2030 to meet the needs of 200GWh of battery capacity.
Bibb County Battery Plant
According to official news from Mercedes-Benz, the company recently opened a new battery plant in Bibb County, Alabama, which will supply batteries for the new EQS SUV and EQE SUV. The battery system will use the modular design already seen in the EQS and EQE and use a very advanced battery chemistry with an 8:1:1 ratio of nickel, cobalt and manganese, reducing the cobalt content to about ten percent, Enhanced sustainability.
In addition, in order to localize an important supplier, Mercedes-Benz is partnering with Envision AESC, one of the world's leading battery technology companies. Envision AESC will supply high-performance battery modules from the new facility across the U.S. for Mercedes-Benz's battery plant in Bibb County, with supply beginning in mid-2025.
Mercedes-Benz said the company is investing more than 1 billion euros to develop a global battery production network, and with the establishment of the new factory, Bibb County will become part of Mercedes-Benz's global battery production network. The battery production network currently has factories on three continents, including Kamenz, Germany, Beijing, China, Bangkok, Thailand, Jawor, Poland, and Stuttgart, Germany, each supplying local vehicle production and, if necessary, export.
According to Mercedes-Benz's plans, by 2030, as long as market conditions allow, the company will be fully electrified. To achieve this goal, the company plans to work with partners to build 8 battery factories around the world by 2030 to meet the needs of 200GWh of battery capacity.
Marcus Schaefer, Member of the Management Board of Mercedes-Benz and Chief Technology Officer, said: "In order to become a leading luxury brand in an all-electric future, Mercedes-Benz is accelerating the launch of its EQ models. This year, our The product portfolio will include nine all-electric Mercedes-EQ models around the world, and we will introduce many more exciting new products. At the same time, in line with our global production strategy, a strong network of battery partners will be established.”
The battery network noted that in addition to investing in the construction of a battery factory, Mercedes-Benz will also deploy a battery recycling factory with its technology partner Primobius and well-known research institutions. The pilot project will be put into operation in Kuppenheim, a small town in southern Germany, in 2023.
According to the data, the recovery rate of the newly built recycling plant is as high as 96%. The plant will extract important materials such as graphite, cobalt, nickel, manganese and lithium through mechanical hydrometallurgy. The project will be divided into two phases of construction. Completion in 2023. It is reported that the plant has a designed annual production capacity of 2,500 tons, and its recycled materials can be used to manufacture 50,000 battery modules for new cars. At the same time, according to the conditions of the pilot plant, subsequent production can be expanded in the medium and long term.
"Through targeted cooperation with high-tech partners in China and the United States, we are globalizing our battery recycling strategy and moving towards ending the electric vehicle recycling cycle," said Mercedes-Benz Production Director Buzer. A decisive step."
According to data previously disclosed by Mercedes-Benz, in 2021, the company's sales of new energy vehicles will show a rapid growth trend, and the cumulative sales for the year will reach 272,000, an increase of 64% over the same period. Among them, the sales of pure electric vehicles reached 90,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 91.49%; the sales of plug-in hybrid models reached 182,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 52.94%.
