The automotive supplier is responding to the increasing demand for electric motors.
(Photo: dpa)
new York Thanks to increasing demand, the automotive supplier Bosch is expanding its recently started production of electric motors in the USA. At its largest US location in Charleston, South Carolina, Bosch is investing more than 260 million dollars in expanding production, as the foundation group announced on Tuesday.
The expansion is expected to be completed by the end of next year. By 2025, Bosch wants to create at least 350 new jobs. The company has gained so much new business for electromobility that the expansion is necessary.
Bosch only started producing electric motors in Charleston this October. These are intended for the local market. The customer is the US electric car manufacturer Rivian. Other manufacturers could also be supplied in the future, Bosch explained, but did not provide any information on the planned quantities.
“We have expanded our electric car business worldwide and here in the North American region,” said Mike Mansuetti, Bosch North America boss. Bosch has already invested more than six billion dollars in the development of e-mobility. In 2021, the corresponding customer orders worldwide had increased to a value of ten billion dollars.
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Now it is being expanded further in the USA. “Local production helps drive our customers’ regional electrification strategies,” says Mansuetti.
Expansion also with hydrogen
According to the company, the electric motor production in Charleston takes place on around 18,500 square meters in a building that was previously used for the production of diesel components. A further 7,000 square meters of production space are now to be added.
The Charleston plant was opened in 1974 and, with around 1,500 employees, is the largest Bosch location in the USA. So far, the employees have mainly been involved in the production of parts for combustion engines. As already announced, parts production for diesel engines will be phased out in 2020, Bosch explained. The employees are to receive further training, and new employees are also to be recruited through school partnerships.
Bosch is not only investing in e-mobility. Bosch also intends to expand at its Anderson, South Carolina location. The group announced in August that it would produce fuel cell stacks (so-called stacks) there from 2026.
The construction is part of an investment of more than 200 million dollars. At least 350 new jobs should also be created in Anderson.
German car manufacturers are drawn to the USA
With the latest announcement, Bosch joins the list of German automakers and suppliers who have announced plans to expand their US locations in 2022. One of the goals is to become more independent of China in view of the growing geopolitical tensions.
Only last week BMW announced an investment of 1.7 billion dollars in Spartanburg, also South Carolina. The group’s largest plant in the world is being prepared for the production of electric cars for a billion dollars. 700 million dollars flow into the development of its own battery production.
With the expansion in the USA, the German manufacturers are also fulfilling a requirement of the new climate package by US President Joe Biden: Manufacturers who want to benefit from state subsidies must build their electric cars primarily from parts manufactured in North America. According to the legislation, 40 percent of the raw materials for a battery should come from North America by 2023, and even 80 percent by 2027.
Against the background of this requirement, Volkswagen had declared in August that it wanted to purchase more battery raw materials from Canada. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, the Wolfsburg company has opened its own battery laboratory. And Mercedes-Benz is expanding its US plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
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