Siemens signs deal to supply equipment for gigafactories JV

ZURICH (Reuters) -Siemens has signed a deal a with a joint venture of Stellantis, Mercedes Benz and TotalEnergies to supply equipment and technology for electric vehicle battery plants, the German engineering company said on Thursday.

The joint venture – Automotive Cells Company – has a plan worth more than 7 billion euros ($6.79 billion) to build the three gigafactories with a capacity of 40 gigawatt hours (GWh) each by 2030, to support the growing production of electrified vehicles.

Gigafactories is a generic term referring to facilities that produce batteries for electric vehicles on a large scale.

Siemens’ digital twin technology will speed up the startup of ACC’s factories in Billy-Berclau Douvrin, France, Kaiserslautern, Germany, and possibly Termoli, Italy, Siemens said.

Under the deal, Siemens will become ACC’s preferred supplier for automation, digitalisation and electrification technology.

Terms of the partnership, which is part of the Siemens Xcelerator open digital platform launched earlier this year, have not been revealed.

The cloud-based platform, which will feature hardware, software and digital services, is part of Siemens’ ambition to grow its digital business by 10% per year from the 5.6 billion euros ($5.89 billion) generated in 2021.

Siemens will give ACC access to its digital enterprise portfolio of hardware and software, from production design to product design, from product lifecycle management to energy management systems.

“ACC uses virtually the entire spectrum of Xcelerator – from factory construction to production automation to building services,” Siemens managing board member Cedrik Neike told Reuters.

“Battery factories – along with semiconductors and intralogistics – are among the super-cycles in which investments must be made regardless of the economy,” the executive, who also leads Siemens’s Digital Industries division, said.

Siemens on Thursday also announced a deal with electric vehicle company Volta Trucks to deliver electric charging infrastructure for truck customers, to help the transition to electrified vehicles.

($1 = 1.0309 euros)

(Reporting by Alexander Huebner and John RevillEditing by Miranda Murray and Jane Merriman)

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