Bosch to take a position greater than $200M to supply gas cell stacks for Class 8 vans in South Carolina

Bosch, a longtime chief in powertrain and propulsion applied sciences, introduced that it’ll additionally produce gas cell stacks in its Anderson, South Carolina, facility as a part of a greater than $200-million funding anticipated to create no less than 350 new jobs by the beginning of manufacturing in 2026.

As a part of Bosch’s local-for-local manufacturing technique, the gas cell stacks produced in Anderson will drive hydrogen-powered vans coming to the roads of the US within the subsequent few years. When hydrogen is produced utilizing renewable power, gas cells allow autos to be operated practically CO₂-free. Particularly for big, heavy autos, gas cells have a greater carbon footprint than solely battery-electric when the CO₂ emissions for manufacturing, operation and disposal are added collectively in response to analysis performed by Bosch.

The hydrogen financial system holds nice promise and at Bosch we’re all in. It is a important milestone as we announce the primary fuel-cell associated manufacturing for Bosch within the US to assist the rising demand from our native clients as a part of a various strategy to powertrain know-how.

—Mike Mansuetti, president of Bosch in North America

The event of the brand new manufacturing course of in Anderson was supported domestically with help from the state of South Carolina in addition to Anderson County.

The Bosch Anderson facility has already begun work on the enlargement to assist gas cell know-how. Capital upgrades to the Anderson campus embrace an estimated 147,000 sq. ft of floorspace to be developed to fabricate the gas cell stack in addition to supporting clear room and climate-controlled environments required for quality-critical processes.

Bosch has a protracted presence in Anderson, the place it began producing gas rails in 1985. Its operations have expanded to a number of merchandise inside the Bosch Mobility Options enterprise sector, together with sensors and digital management models for the powertrain.

Nikola Company has been pilot-testing prototype Class 8 gas cell electrical autos (FCEV) that includes Bosch know-how. The corporate just lately accomplished a program highlighting its Tre FCEV Alpha Pilot with Anheuser-Busch in California. These prototype vans logged greater than 12,000 miles and hauled 2 million kilos of freight. Nikola additionally has lively pilot testing of prototype FCEV autos with Complete Transportation Providers Inc.

Gasoline cell stack manufacturing is very complicated. One stack consists of three,200 particular person components assembled, greater than 400 layers and greater than 100 distinctive parts. Gasoline cell stack manufacturing in Anderson will broaden on Bosch’s present international manufacturing for gas cell stacks, together with vital sub-components.

To be able to efficiently carry gas cell know-how to market in mass scale, it requires a mixture of in depth expertise in analysis and improvement, techniques integration and complicated manufacturing course of. Bosch is exclusive in its potential in all these areas. The work now we have already carried out in commercializing gas cell know-how builds on our in depth expertise in creating and manufacturing merchandise for the interior combustion engine at scale.

—Mike Mansuetti

Bosch might be one of many first to market with large-scale manufacturing to assist hydrogen-powered industrial autos. The corporate just lately introduced it could make investments greater than US$1 billion globally to develop cell gas cell applied sciences by 2024. The corporate beforehand introduced a collaboration with Powercell to develop the gas cell stack. The aim has been a high-performance resolution that may be manufactured at excessive quantity and a market-competitive price.