MAN rolls out battery repair network

Traton subsidiary MAN has announced that it will open a Europe-wide network of battery repair centres for its electric commercial vehicles.

Two existing centres, situat­ed in Germany and Spain, will be followed by others in the UK, Italy, Denmark/Norway, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, France, and Poland, over the next two years, as the first battery-electric MAN heavy trucks are due to go into commercial service in the autumn of this year. MAN already has over 1,000 battery-electric buses and 2,400 battery-elec­tric vans in service on European roads.

The company said that main­taining a closed loop in the bat­tery supply chain is important to achieving its sustainability goals as part of the Circular Economy Strategy. The aim, says MAN, is to operate a battery repair hub in every market in which the manu­facturer is represented with bat­tery-electric commercial vehicles.

“Short transport routes and highly trained technicians on site will ensure that the battery can be repaired quickly. This minimis­es vehicle downtime,” said the company.

“At MAN, a battery repair cen­tre has to meet certain criteria based on practical experience and legal standards in the respec­tive countries. On the one hand, the appropriate high-voltage and special tools are required for han­dling the respective battery types of the vehicles. In addition, spe­cial protective equipment must be available for the electricians working there. The premises also fulfil certain requirements, e.g. access control, double doors, air conditioning, ventilation concept, 400 V socket and load crane.”