Daimler to Add EV Parts, Battery Production at German Plant

Daimler AG has reached a deal with union workers at its Mercedes-Benz complex in Untertuerkheim, Germany, to add production of components, including batteries for electric cars.

The deal also will make the facility a corporate competence center for integrating electrified powertrains into standard production lines, Reuters reports. About 250 jobs will be created by the agreement.

Thet Untertuerkheim factory, which produces powertrains and E-Class cars, is operating at full capacity already. But 19,000 workers there went on strike earlier this month over job security concerns. They worried that the plant’s workforce would shrink as Mercedes adds more all-electric models, which require fewer parts than piston-powered cars.

Daimler says the agreement ensures that the Untertuerkheim complex will remain Daimler’s lead plant in global powertrain production. The facility will start assembling EV batteries in about 2019 and begin supplying electric powertrain systems to other Mercedes factories sometime thereafter.

Mercedes said in March it will debut 10 EV models by 2022, three years earlier than originally planned, beginning with an electric crossover in 2019. The vehicles will be marketed under the EQ brand Daimler unveiled last September.