Although the final assembly of the fuel cell system will take place in Stuttgart-Feuerbach, the supplier emphasises its reliance on a global manufacturing network and the “prowess of its German locations” fuelling the hydrogen economy. For example, the stacks for the Feuerbach production come from Bosch’s plant in Bamberg. The factory in Homburg delivers system components such as the electric air compressor or the recirculation fan. Critical data, however, such as the number of power modules being produced, have not been disclosed, but plenty of proud statements were made.
“Bosch is one of the very few companies capable of mass producing technology as complex as fuel-cell stacks,” said Markus Heyn, member of the Bosch board of management and chairman of Bosch Mobility. “We don’t just have the required systems expertise, but also the capability of quickly scaling up new developments to mass production.”
The company has begun producing the fuel cell drive in Chongqing simultaneously with production in Germany. In China, the Bosch plant in Wuxi supplies the components. And Bosch reportedly plans to manufacture stacks for mobile applications at its US plant in Anderson, South Carolina.
“Bosch is the first company to manufacture such systems in China and Germany,” says Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management on Bosch Tech Day 2023. “Bosch knows its way around hydrogen, and Bosch is growing with hydrogen.” The company targets to generate roughly 5 billion euros in sales with hydrogen technology by 2030.
At this year’s Bosch Tech Day, however, Nikola’s Tre truck for the US market was not on display. Press photos show the European model, the Iveco Heavy Duty FCEV – Iveco had bought Nikola’s shares in the European joint venture based in Ulm at the beginning of May and subsequently renamed the division from Nikola Iveco Europe to EVCO. Bosch also did not mention Nikola’s plans to localise the supply chain and, for example, assemble Bosch fuel cell power modules in Coolidge to reduce the material cost of the trucks.
Bosch firmly believes that hydrogen is the key to achieving a climate-neutral world. The company has ambitious goals, aiming for a fuel cell to power one out of every five new commercial vehicles weighing six tonnes or more by 2030. To support this vision, Bosch plans to invest nearly 2.5 billion euros in the development and production of its H2 technologies by 2026, surpassing their initial budget for the years 2021 to 2024 by one billion euros. It's important to note that their focus extends beyond (heavy) vehicles, encompassing hydrogen generation as well.
Source: Bosch