Fuel cell systems, cellcentric to begin pilot production at the Esslingen-Pliensauvorstadt site
"cellcentric’s goal is to develop, produce and distribute fuel cell systems on a large scale in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg that achieve the best possible total cost of ownership (TCO) in the highly competitive transportation industry", stated cellcentric, the JV shared by Volvo and Daimler.
cellcentric, the JV shared by Volvo and Daimler, is developing new fuel cell system for long-haul trucks, as we wrote here only a few days ago. Now, the company announced that pilot production at the Esslingen-Pliensauvorstadt site.
“cellcentric’s goal is to develop, produce and distribute fuel cell systems on a large scale in the German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg that achieve the best possible total cost of ownership (TCO) in the highly competitive transportation industry. In addition, cellcentric intends to cover the entire fuell cell ecosystem – from the product itself to maintenance and recycling at the end of its life cycle”, stated the company in an official note.
The new cellcentric fuel cell stack factory in Germany
In Esslingen, more than 100 employees have over 10,300 square meters of production, logistics and office/administration space at their disposal. The property in the immediate vicinity of the federal highway 10 is part of the Esslingen industrial park greenfield. In a next step, cellcentric will establish the necessary production processes at the site to prepare for the start of a large-scale production of fuel cell systems with a high degree of vertical integration.
In addition to the development and production of fuel cell systems for heavy-duty transportation, cellcentric will create a complete ecosystem around the highly complex assemblies. This will provide customers with products of unique quality while enabling seamless integration of the drive solutions into the vehicle management system.
Back to May 2024: cellcentric at ACT Expo
In May 2024, cellcentric presented its smaller, more powerful and efficient NextGen fuel cell system for sustainable hydrogen-powered long-haul trucks for the first time at the ACT Expo in Las Vegas, USA. In addition, with the BZA150 fuel cell generation, the company has a close to series production and already practical pilot product that has been successfully tested by the truck manufacturers Daimler Truck and Volvo Group in demanding field tests. Series production of the NextGen fuel cell system is scheduled to begin at the end of the decade.
“Fuel cell technology is a well-proven solution for CO2-neutral long-distance heavy-duty transportation. However, it has not yet been produced on an industrial scale, which is precisely the key to achieving economies of scale, optimizing the total cost of ownership (TCO) and putting cellcentric in a solid competitive position in the long term,” declared Lars Johansson, Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Organizational Officer of cellcentric.
