Elements for the manufacturing of batteries at Audi’s Brussels plant will not be delivered by truck from Hungary, however by rail with DB Cargo. The transfer will considerably scale back Audi’s carbon emissions and in addition get monetary savings. The change in technique of supply between Hungary and Brussels, which was began in Could and is scheduled to be accomplished by the start of 2023, is a preview of the automobile producer’s future.
Brussels performs a pioneering function, however we developed this sustainable logistics idea for battery modules and cells in Audi’s complete manufacturing community.
—Dieter Braun, Head of Provide Chain at Audi AG
Sooner or later, ideally all manufacturing websites will implement this answer.
Battery modules and cells wanted in Belgium for the Audi e-tron and Audi e-tron Sportback had been to date transported by truck over the roughly 1,300-kilometer-long route from the provider in Hungary. To satisfy the Belgian website’s demand, twelve to fifteen absolutely loaded automobiles set off throughout Europe each day. This caravan of vehicles is now being changed by rail transport. The change will scale back carbon emissions by round 2,600 tons yearly.
Wherever doable, Audi makes use of DB Cargo’s DBeco plus service—for instance, presently for the legs of the route in Austria and Germany, the service sources energy completely from renewable sources akin to wind, water, or photo voltaic power, making transport carbon-free. In Hungary and Belgium, Audi makes use of DBeco impartial. With this product, the facility used for transportation is offset by way of local weather certificates, lowering carbon emissions elsewhere.
The provider of the battery modules in Hungary doesn’t have its personal rail siding. Subsequently, Audi AG’s long-standing challenge accomplice DB Cargo just lately put a logistics heart (LC) into operation on the Győr website. On the weather-protected LC, battery modules are reloaded from vehicles to rail automobiles for supply. The modules are first picked up from the producer by truck and transported from the Győr LC by rail to Brussels. Initially, a light-weight corridor was constructed within the rapid neighborhood of the Audi plant in Győr; an extra growth is already being deliberate.
With the intention to meet the prime quality and security necessities for battery modules and cells, the Audi Provide Chain workforce makes use of a digital data platform and particular sensor expertise to watch the temperature and any shocks within the rail automobiles.
The shift pioneered by Brussels is deliberate to be prolonged to the whole firm within the foreseeable future. Excessive-turnover parts, akin to battery modules and cells, will more and more change to supply by rail; by 2025, Audi goals to move these parts completely by prepare.
At Audi’s headquarters in Ingolstadt, for instance, every little thing is able to go for the manufacturing of batteries utilizing modules and cells shipped by rail; the batteries will then be used to fabricate Audi fashions on website. New gear and processes have been put in particularly for this function. Different vegetation are already ready within the wings to modify to rail supply of battery parts.
Equally, a big share of the completed merchandise are additionally shipped by rail: In the present day, round 68% of Audi automobiles in Europe already depart the vegetation by rail, a determine that’s set to extend sooner or later.
