Daimler will produce its first electric motor at its Berlin plant

Author: Victoria Waldersee

BERLIN (Reuters) – Daimler will produce its first indoor electric motor at its oldest plant in Berlin, the carmaker said on Thursday, offering workers agility because the diesel engine production site was on the verge of shrinking jobs.

Daimler (OTC 🙂 will also offer software and coding training to employees who feared its position in September 2020 that will end its production of its 6-cylinder diesel engine within a year by its Berlin site in September 2020, the German company said.

About 450 of the plant’s 2,300 employees have applied to attend a 160-hour pilot training course on software development, company board chairman Michael Rahmel said in a press call, about fifteen have been selected for the first round of training.

Investment in the 120-year-old Berlin-Marienfelde plant, previously set at two figures of two million euros, will rise to a small figure of three million euros over the next six years, Daimler said.

The engine, known as an axial-flow engine and designed by British startup YASA bought by Daimler earlier this year, weighs in on part of its diesel equivalent and could increase the range of an EV by up to 7%, said YASA founder Tim Woolmer. Reuters in July.

Woolmer said Daimler then informed YASA to reduce costs in future iterations of its engine so the automaker could use it throughout its EV range.

The electric motor is simpler to produce than its diesel equivalent, meaning the plant will eventually need fewer workers, but the exact amount of future job losses was still unclear, production chief Joerg Burzer said in a press call. No start date was given for the production of the engine.

Daimler partnered with Siemens to develop the digital training campus in March, and what will be launched in 2022 would also create new jobs, Burzer said.

“If we make efforts here in the coming years, there may be more jobs than ever before,” said Jan Otto, head of IG Metall Berlin.

The 6-cylinder diesel engine and production of some components were expected to continue at the factory in the short term, but were becoming more difficult, Burzer and union representatives said.

Factory workers are guaranteed their jobs until the beginning of 2030 in accordance with the union agreement in force.

“A year ago, we didn’t know what was going to happen at the plant. Today, we hope to embark on what will be a successful transformation by raising our heads,” said Michael Rahmel, chairman of the Berlin-Marienfelde business committee. a statement.