Siemens may not make an electric car, but the company's toolbox helps automotive companies make theirs.
Siemens AG made two announcements related to vehicle electrification on Media Day 2022, which was recently held in Berlin. The first was an agreement with Volta Trucks followed immediately by an agreement with Automotive Cells Company (ACC).
Here was Peter Körte, CTO and chief strategy officer, telling us how Siemens will be engaging with Volta Trucks, the European firm with its futuristic all-electric (not hybrid) trucks. A planned fleet of Volta Zero will need charging centers, batteries and software. And who better than Siemens to supply it all?
Then, Siemens will help to build ACC’s battery gigafactories so that it can efficiently churn out lithium-ion batteries.
An Electric History
Media Day this year coincided with the company’s 175th anniversary.
“Throughout our long history, Siemens has had to reinvent itself constantly,” said Körte.
Siemens was at the forefront of electric vehicle production, creating them as early as 1905. But the advent of fossil fuels and the refinement of internal combustion engines led to cars that could be driven for hundreds of miles. Siemens’ interest in electric cars must have waned.
With these recent deals, Siemens is determined to ride the big wave that electric vehicles have created. The company won’t be making an electric vehicle of its own (I asked) but fully intends to be under the hood, so to speak, of every electric vehicle produced by the electric car makers.
Volta, an electric truck company, has presold many of is trucks, but before it can operate a fleet, it will need a network of heavy-duty charging depots. Given that the range of the Volta Zero is only 95 to 125 miles, the companies plan to ring a city with charging depots.
This is where Siemens comes in.
Siemens and Volta signed a letter of intent,[i] to deliver turnkey charging stations, at least some of which will be facilities updated for charging zero emissions urban transportation options. Siemen may want these stations to charge buses, too, not just Volta trucks, though that is not mentioned in the press release. The companies plan to sink as little funding as possible into the project, which is why they are upgrading existing facilities rather than building new ones.
Not only are Volta trucks unique, with their driver sitting low and in the middle of the bus, but so is their business model. Volta wants to sell the transportation of goods as a service, rather than sell the trucks outright. Siemens, with its experience in creating software to manage vast city and intercity rail services, will now be called on to build the technical infrastructure, the hardware and the software required to operate the charging of the fleet of Volta Zeros. Siemens will call in its financial division to set up this business model.
“Through our partnership with Volta Trucks, we intend to co-create Transportation as a Service solutions and deliver Volta Trucks’ customers higher uptime, a commitment to reliability through performance-based contracts, and reduced energy expenditure. As commercial fleets look to meet sustainability goals and deliver cost effective, robust infrastructure solutions, we are pleased to be able to partner with Volta Trucks,” said Thomas Kiessling, chief technology officer of Siemens Smart Infrastructure.
Siemens will create a performance management platform for Volta that will optimize operations, using “advanced analytical and simulation models,” minimize charging and other downtime and consider a myriad of other factors, including fleet duty cycles, battery life, optimal energy utilization and cost and asset management.
Volta customers will be demanding adequate energy capacity and an efficient operation with big trucks to quickly dock, charge quickly, and undock to resume their deliveries.
Partnership with ACC
The second announcement on the subject of vehicle electrification was of a memorandum of understanding (MoU)[ii] between ACC and Siemens.
ACC is building gigafactories in Europe for the production of lithium-ion batteries and it has ample funding to do so. Three European companies, including Stellantis (makers of Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroën, Fiat, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot …) and Mercedes-Benz, have funded ACC to the tune of €7 billion.
Siemens will be creating digital twins of the gigafactories in Billy-Berclau Douvrin, France, Kaiserslautern, Germany, and potentially Termoli, Italy.
The MoU states that Siemens will be ACC’s preferred supplier in automation, digitalization and electrification technology, which Siemens has in considerable supply. Siemens will provide ACC with access to its Digital Enterprise portfolio, a wealth of design and manufacturing software (Xcelerator), factory simulation of machines, and even the human operators (Jack and Jill avatars) and hardware (a third of all PLCs are made by Siemens, the company claims).
In fact, Siemens may have the most complete toolbox for any new or retrofit manufacturing facility.
Siemens and ACC will first create comprehensive digital twins of the battery and the production lines with Siemens’ Totally Integrated Automation and Teamcenter PLM software and connect design and manufacturing to scale up to full production.
“The emergence of a European equipment industry is a key success factor for ACC, whose ambition is to be a European leader of automotive battery cells and modules. We must facilitate the establishment of an entire battery ecosystem, covering the entire value chain. In this perspective, being able to rely on Siemens is very important for ACC. Throughout the project, Siemens Xcelerator offers the perfect set of solutions for our needs,” said Yann Vincent, ACC CEO.
Sustainability
As befitting any enterprise that involves electrification, sustainability is mentioned as the driving force in both agreements.
[i] A letter of intent is a nonbinding agreement that says two companies are interested in working together.
[ii] A MoU, or memorandum of understanding, is the next step in corporate courtship after a letter of intent. A MoU is an outline of how the companies will be cooperating. Unlike a letter of intent, a MoU is legally binding.
