OEM INTERVIEW DAIMLER
“When we started to get serious about
electrification,the battery was one of
the biggest technical considerations
we had to deal with”
www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com // January 2020 // 89
How is the philosophy at Daimler changing
as a result of the electrifi cation movement?
In ten years from now, in 2030, 50% of our sales will
be either plug-in hybrid or fully electric, which is a bold
statement from us. This is something that we started from
the development side with a strong push for electrifi cation.
If you look at our portfolio this year with the plug-in
hybrids, they’re employing third generation technology, for
which our engineers have done an incredible job of putting
in as much energy as possible in a given space within the
car. If you look at our previous generation, we admit we had
to make sacrifi ces on the truck volume and range. One of
the main drivers for us is giving customers the opportunity
to go electric and emission free – we’re not a startup vying
for customers, we have people ready and waiting to electric.
What were the biggest obstacles and technical
challenges with electrifying the company’s
line-up?
For over 130 years internal combustion engines have been
our business, so when we started to get serious about
electrifi cation the battery was one of the biggest technical
considerations we had to deal with. We discovered that
when thinking about they could do and solving problems
around the space deployment for batteries, it involves a lot
of mechanical engineering. We are a company that started
manufacturing battery cells and then we realized that the
cells have to be specifi cally designed for the application,
however, there is a lot that can be done with the module
and pack design, which transformed a lot of our existing
engineering staff into battery mechanical pack designers.
We have made major progress over the last few years and
have been able to get more density into the batteries,
making available space, and also on the production side
where we have been breaking down costs to make sure
one production line can produce several pack designs.
Where do you see battery chemistry going?
Looking at everything as a whole, lithium-ion technology
is the standard technology until at least 2025. Ourselves,
and the entire industry are striving for solid-state
technology, but that won’t happen for some time. Before
2025, what we’ll see is the optimization of the battery –
bringing down the levels of cobalt, increase performance
and density and bring down costs. Fortunately, compared
to other components of the car, we’re relatively
at the beginning of this technology and there’s
opportunity to make them better.
Are you working on batteries in-house
or with suppliers?
We’re working with suppliers as they have to
manufacture the cells but the team we have
on the production side we brought together
with the engineering side so we increased
the engineering power of the cell component,
chemistries and production processes. We
want to talk eye-to-eye with our supply
companies as we want them to make the cell
very specifi c. On the other hand, we want to
2. Daimler has invested
US$11bn into its EQ
portfolio, and aims to put
over 10 different
fully-electric vehicles
into production by 2023
3. Daimler engineers
have worked alongside
suppliers to develop its
battery technology
4. The Mercedes-Benz
EQC is the brand’s fi rst
fully-electric SUV
2
3
4
/www.electrichybridvehicletechnology.com