Bosch builds 48-volt batteries in Eisenach

The automotive supplier and technology company Bosch plans to establish its own battery manufacturing for 48-volt energy storage in Eisenach. Production is expected to start there in the summer of 2021. There is already a so-called pilot production on site. The cells are sourced from the Chinese supplier CATL, with which a comprehensive strategic partnership was recently formed.

"We need to understand battery cells, but we don’t need to manufacture them ourselves,” explained Bosch Managing Director Stefan Hartung in September, who is also chairman of the Mobility Solutions business unit.

From his perspective, the 48-volt drive is the “future minimum standard in the vehicle market.” He sees fuel consumption savings of up to 15 percent as achievable. He expects that by 2025, up to 20 percent of new cars will be equipped with the mild-hybrid system.

"For efficiency reasons, we will no longer be able to afford to let braking energy go to waste," Hartung believes.

The special feature of the Bosch system is that it is compact and passively cooled, which facilitates integration into existing vehicle concepts. CATL is considered one of the largest battery producers worldwide and is currently building a cell factory at the Erfurt location, from which the Eisenach production is to be supplied in the medium term. Until then, the cells and 48-volt batteries will continue to come from the main plant in Wuxi, China.