Bosch takes full ownership of e-motor JV w/Daimler
Bosch is now taking over the entire electric motor joint venture, EM-motive, that they founded with Daimler in 2011. The purchase of these shares still has to be approved by the antitrust authorities but had been an option in the contract from the start.
Both Bosch and Daimler agreed not to disclose any details such as the purchase price. However, for the employees of EM-Motive in Germany, nothing will change, especially since the full ownership of Bosch does not come as a surprise.
According to Bosch, EM-motive has produced around 450,000 electric motors to date that electric vehicles from a wide range of manufacturers use. “The company’s electric motors already feature in vehicles made by Daimler, Porsche, Fiat, Volvo, Peugeot, and StreetScooter, among others,” explains Dr Mathias Pillin, a member of the Powertrain Solutions executive management responsible for the electric-vehicle market segment. He added that with the full takeover, “Bosch above all intends to acquire new customers in the rapidly growing global market”. A view that is shared at the parent company. Dr. Stefan Hartung, Member of the Board of Management at Bosch considers the deal “the next logical step on the path to becoming the market leader for electromobility”.
Back in 2011, the EM-motive joint venture was set up to allow both partners an economically feasible early entry into electric-motor manufacturing: given the initially small batch sizes, Bosch and Daimler were able to share the high capital cost of developing and manufacturing electric motors. Today, however, Bosch is confident that by the start of the next decade, the electric transport business will have grown into a mass market.
In line with this train of thought, Bosch has presented electric drive solutions for various segments, most recently (light) commercial vehicles with the eCityTrucks solution. However, Bosch is also thinking about heavier trucks and have begun working with Nikola Motors on a solution for their electric trucks reportedly.
Additional reporting by Nora Manthey.
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