Scania plans battery plant at HQ site

Plans have been developed by heavy vehicle manufacturer Scania to build a battery assembly plant at its HQ and main production site in Sweden.

Located at Södertälje, the facility will begin construction in 2021 and aims to be fully operational by 2023.

Scania is currently developing a series of new electric trucks and buses to bring to market and the battery facility will allow the firm to bring this element of production in-house.

By creating such a facility, Scania aims to avoid costly delivery of lithium-ion batteries, which can be difficult to transport and require extensive storage and safety regulations.

The cells will be manufactured by Northvolt at a nearby factory and will then be assembled by Scania. The new 18,000 square metre facility will be built next to the chassis assembly plant in Södertälje. The battery assembly plant will be signficantly automated – and employ just 200 people. The chassis assembly plant is being reconfigured to allow for parallel assembly of electric and combustion engine vehicles.

Speaking about the move, Ruthger de Vries, head of production and logistics at Scania, said: “Operating an on-site battery assembly plant is a prerequisite for large-scale production of electric vehicles and it also establishes Scania clearly as a part of the battery production value chain.”