Robert Bosch GmbH continues to beef up its electromobility capabilities and transition away from diesel-related components with the launch of electric motor production at its Charleston, S.C., manufacturing facility.
Bosch, which is the largest global automotive supplier, has invested more than $6 billion worldwide in electromobility development. In 2021, the company’s global orders for such products (including motors, power electronics, and other EV and fuel cell components) surpassed $10 billion for the first time.
“We have grown our electrification business globally and here in the North American region,” Mike Mansuetti, president of Bosch North America, said at a recent press event in Charleston. “Local production helps to advance our customers’ regional electrification strategies, and further supports the market demand for electrification.”
The Charleston facility is Bosch’s second plant to produce electric motors. The company also produces the components in Hildesheim, Germany, at a former joint venture facility with Daimler AG that it took full control of in 2019.
Charleston began making electric motors in October. The plant converted about 200,000 sq ft [18,580 sq m] in an existing building that previously produced fuel injectors and pumps for diesel engines. The new assembly area includes the production of rotors and stators, as well as final assembly of the combined components into an electric motor.
The units produced in Charleston can produce between 50 kW and 500 kW of power and 150-1,000 Nm of torque, according to Bosch. They initially will be used in Rivian Automotive Inc.’s all-electric R1T pickup trucks, which use four motors—one at each wheel—per vehicle.
It takes about six hours to assemble the motors, including four hours to produce the stators. The rotor line assembles six components: lamella, large magnet, small magnet, mold stack, rotor shaft, and a balancing disk.
Bosch said its system is flexible and allows easy integration in various vehicle designs. This includes bar winding technology to maximize power density while minimizing size, which enables more freedom in the electric motor layout. A thin lamination is tailored to customer needs to boost efficiency, according to the supplier. Artificial intelligence is used to optimize development, efficiency, performance, and material usage.
The assembly process is highly automated for the stacking of the laminate plates for the rotors and installation of the thick copper windings in the stator, as well as handling the hefty 90-lb finished motors. Overall, Bosch uses 12 robots (a mix of large Kuka units and Staubli picker robots), two Agiloc automated-guided vehicles, and a Grob final assembly center in the new electric motor area. It also adapted laser welding systems for copper-to-copper operation, which the company said increases efficiency.
The Charleston facility, which opened in 1974, is Bosch’s largest manufacturing site in the U.S. by employment with about 1,500 associates. It covers more than 900,000 sq ft [8,3613 sq m].
In addition to the Rivian motors, Bosch said it has won contracts with unnamed new EV customers that will require a 75,000-sq-ft [6,968-sq-m] expansion to the Charleston plant that is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. This will increase Bosch’s total electromobility investment in Charleston to $260 million, as well as add 350 jobs by 2025.
Bosch also is retooling its Anderson, S.C., plant, which is about 230 miles northwest of Charleston, to produce fuel-cell stacks for Nikola Corp.’s upcoming fuel-cell-powered trucks. The program, due to launch in 2026, also will add 350 new jobs as part of a more than $200 million investment in the facility.
The Charleston site will continue to produce high-pressure fuel injectors and pumps for gasoline-fueled internal combustion engines. It also manufacturers safety products such as electronic stability control.
To support the electromobility transition, Bosch is providing workers with extensive training and upskilling. This includes trips to Germany and other global facilities to share best practices.
“We are in the midst of major shifts in mobility, and the story of reinvention in Charleston is a model for how electrification production can evolve from within an existing facility,” noted Mansuetti, who coincidentally started his career as a manufacturing engineer at the Charleston site. “We are building on the long-standing expertise and commitment of the Charleston team with this new production.”
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