When it comes to electromobility, Bosch is driving in the fast lane. No other company has as much expertise in this domain. And this is paying off: since the beginning of 2018, Bosch has won electromobility orders worth roughly 13 billion euros, including production projects for electrical powertrains for passenger cars and light trucks. Thanks to these successful orders and its innovative strength, Bosch is holding its own in the currently difficult environment. The Mobility Solutions business sector is again developing better than global automotive production in 2019. Despite the market’s current significant downward trend, the sector’s sales from operations will come in at just under the previous year’s level. “The transformation of mobility entails challenges, but also opportunities. We want to grasp them,” says Dr. Volkmar Denner, chairman of the Bosch board of management. Technologically, Bosch is approaching the mobility of the future with an open mind. It is both further refining conventional powertrains and fast-tracking electrification. In addition, the company is working to make mobility automated, connected, and personalized. One key to this lies in electronics and software. The company’s mobility operations currently employ some 14,000 software engineers, and annual expenditure on software expertise comes to 3 billion euros. The objective is to keep people mobile in an eco-friendly way and to ensure that mobility is accessible to everyone. “Bosch is making mobility climate-friendly and affordable,” Denner says.
Efficient powertrains: from combustion engines to fuel cells
Bosch is leading the way in climate action, and this not only by making all its locations worldwide carbon neutral from next year. “We are also devoting ourselves to developing mobility solutions that have no appreciable impact on global warming and air quality,” Denner adds. Each year, the company invests some 400 million euros in emissions-free mobility. When it comes to electromobility, Bosch has a broader footprint than other companies – from bikes to trucks, and from mild 48-volt hybridization to the fully electrical powertrain. Bosch is aiming to achieve a leading position in the market with its 48-volt battery, and has concluded a long-term cooperation agreement with the Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) for the production of battery cells. At the start of the year, Bosch forecast sales of 5 billion euros by 2025 with electromobility components and systems for passenger cars and light trucks. Now it expects to exceed that figure. “Whatever the technology that brings about emissions-free mobility, we have to get the market to accept it. We will only manage that with affordable solutions. If we don’t offer them, we won’t help stop global warming,” Denner says. On its path to becoming the market leader in electromobility, Bosch also wants to create a mass market for fuel cells and is taking them into production. Here, economies of scale will also help make the manufacture of this still expensive technology more cost-effective. “Bosch is making alternative powertrains affordable,” Denner says.
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SOURCE: Bosch
