German Federal Minister Robert Habeck visited MAN plant in Ankara, Turkey

German Federal Minister Robert Habeck has paid a visit to MAN plant in Ankara, Turkey. Habeck is in charge of Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

In its presence, Alexander Vlaskamp, Chairman of the Executive Board of MAN Truck & Bus SE, once again emphasised the importance of expanding the public charging infrastructure and the need for sensible political guard rails in the conversion to zero-emission technology.

As early as 2030, 90 percent of all newly registered MAN buses and 50 percent of all MAN trucks in Europe are to be battery-electric.

MAN forecast on bus transition to zero emissions

“By 2025, half of our new city buses will be electric, and just five years later, up to 90 percent of our buses in Europe will be battery-powered,” says Barbaros Oktay, Head of Bus at MAN Truck & Bus. The company also has the electrification of its coaches in mind. An initial eCoach test fleet is planned from 2025.

“Sustainability is an integral part of our corporate strategy. For the transformation towards climate-neutral mobility, we must significantly reduce CO₂ emissions and consistently put our innovative eMobility technology on the road. Our goal is for MAN to be greenhouse gas neutral by 2050 at the latest,” explained Vlaskamp during the visit of the political delegation led by Federal Minister Habeck to the MAN Bus site in Ankara. “MAN has pulled the lever in the direction of zero emissions. Now we need far-sighted political regulations, financial planning security and speed in the development of the charging infrastructure as well as an efficient power grid,” Vlaskamp emphasised, highlighting the role of politics: “Only with political support and cross-sectoral cooperation can we bring about the mobility turnaround together and achieve the climate targets.”

Also e-buses will be built in Ankara

Federal Minister Robert Habeck used the visit to Ankara to see for himself the investments in the Turkish site and the progress of the transformation at MAN: “The drive and energy turnaround in mobility is changing the entire industry in an unprecedented way. In order to achieve our climate targets, we must decarbonise freight and passenger transport quickly and consistently. The steps taken in the transformation towards eMobility show that the company is actively driving this change and investing in future technologies as well as the development of its locations,” said Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

With its three bus sites in Starachowice (Poland), Olifantsfontein (South Africa) and Ankara (Turkey), MAN is also well positioned in the production network. Starachowice has proven itself as a competence centre for electric city buses, in Olifantsfontein MAN has now delivered its first eBus in Africa, and the plant in Ankara is consistently adding development scope to the company, the OEM states. A Product Development Centre (PDC) for the two bus brands MAN and NEOPLAN is currently being built at the Turkish bus plant, including a new test track and a centre for bus modification.

In the next step, production and employees will be prepared for the requirements of electric mobility and the site will be successively converted to eMobility. In the future, electric intercity buses and coaches will roll off the production line here, as Oktay told in a interview with Sustainable Bus: “In our Ankara plant in Turkey we are in the process of qualifying it for electromobility production. Over time, we plan to ramp up its competencies, enabling it to produce high-voltage products by the end of 2025. This strategic move will allow us to leverage the unique strengths of both plants and distribute production responsibilities effectively.