Scania battery assembly plant up and running
05 SEPTEMBER 2023
The battery assembly plant is vital to Scania’s progress toward a fossil-free future. Situated next to the Chassis assembly in Södertälje, with a floor area of 18,000 sqm, walls made of 13,000 bricks, and standing steady on the bedrock below, the 1,5 billion SEK investment is ready for business.
With a rapid expansion of the electrified range of trucks, buses, and engines, the battery assembly is a prerequisite in the transition to fossil-free transport, and for Scania to; launch new and updated electric products annually, as well as have half of our sales to be electric by 2030.
As a company that offers transport solutions, Scania is, in fact, a part of the problem with climate change. But! We need to be a part of the solution. That is why we do this shift and provide our partners and customers with electrified fleets.
Have the truck running for 1,5 million kilometres
Fully ramped, the battery assembly will have 550 employees and be highly automated from incoming goods throughout production to delivery. Battery cells from Northvolt Ett, the gigafactory in northern Sweden, will be assembled into modules and packs, tailored for Scania’s modular production. It has the capacity to power trucks for 1,5 million kilometres – equivalent to the truck’s lifetime.
What batteries mean for Scania
But the battery assembly didn’t just happen. “I am extremely proud of all colleagues who have put their hearts and minds into this. With the battery assembly in operations we have one of the key enablers in place to accelerate the shift to electrification,” says Christian Levin, President and CEO Scania and TRATON GROUP.
Jessie Thorderud is People & Culture Manager at the Battery Assembly. Even though the battery assembly is highly automated, she truly believes in the employees to make a difference: “We consist of employees from five continents in all age groups. We also have a good combination of colleagues with Scania experience as well as external recruits. Different experiences and perspectives are and will continue to be key to our success.”
The Battery Assembly in practice
The cells are assembled into modules. The modules are assembled into packs. The packs are supplied to the final assembly where they are mounted to our trucks. “We have two lines producing batteries for us, where we consume one cell every second. It has a high rate of consumption supported by highly optimized material handling with automatic guided vehicles and forklifts,” says Tony Persson, Head of Battery Production
The battery assembly is strategically situated adjacent to the Chassis Assembly, which was recently redesigned to enable parallel assembly of electric and combustion engine vehicles. The proximity between the two vouches for short and efficient flows.
The Battery Assembly will further strengthen Sweden as a centre of innovation in the industry, alongside other investments that support the transition, such as a battery lab and test tracks for autonomous and electrified vehicles, all based in Södertälje.