Bosch announced today the launch of the production of electric motors at its Charleston, SC, manufacturing facility to support Rivian. The company plans to invest more than $260 million to further expand the production of electrification products at the site, which is expected to create at least 350 net new jobs by 2025.

According to Bosch, electrification means new opportunities. As more EVs (electric vehicles) come to market and provide consumers with the option for zero tailpipe emission vehicles, new opportunities in manufacturing and jobs are emerging to support the shift to electrification.

“We have grown our electrification business globally and here in the North American region,” said Mike Mansuetti, President of Bosch in North America. “We’ve invested more than $6 billion in electromobility development, and in 2021 our global orders for electromobility surpassed $10 billion for the first time. Local production helps to advance our customers’ regional electrification strategies, and further supports the market demand for electrification.”

Production of electric motors at the Charleston site began in October. It covers approximately 200,000 ft² (18,600 m²) in an existing building on the Bosch Charleston campus. The new assembly area includes the production of rotors and stators and the final assembly of the electric motor.

The company has secured additional electromobility business that requires further expansion at the plant, with about 75,000 ft² (6700 m²) to be added onto the existing building to make room for future production. The total investment will be more than $260 million for the expansion and new high-tech manufacturing equipment. The expansion is expected to be operational by the end of 2023.

The Bosch Charleston facility, which opened in 1974, is the largest manufacturing site in the U.S. for Bosch from an employment perspective with around 1500 associates. It covers more than 900,000 ft² (83,600 m²) of floor space located on 118 acres (47.7 ha).

The plant has a long history of process competency and experience in automation and robotics. Production at the site features highly automated processes using artificial intelligence and Industry 4.0 methods for efficiency.

Bosch has continued to invest in its presence in South Carolina. To move ahead with the vision of sustainable mobility, Bosch announced its fuel cell stack production lately in August in Anderson, South Carolina, as part of a more than $200 million investment also expected to create at least 350 new jobs by the start of production in 2026.

The newly launched production of electric motors is located in a building formerly occupied by the production of diesel components. Bosch announced in January 2020 that production of diesel powertrain components would be slowly ramped down.

“This launch delivers on a commitment to our associates and to the local community in Charleston,” said Mansuetti, who started his Bosch career as a manufacturing engineer at the Charleston facility. “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.”

As part of the site transformation, Bosch has provided reskilling and upskilling opportunities to associates to prepare for the electric motor production. The company is also collaborating with local schools to implement electrification fundamentals into curricula. The Bosch Community Fund, the corporate foundation for Bosch in North America, has invested more than $2.5 million in grants related to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education efforts in the Charleston area since 2013.

Bosch says its approach to electric-motor development is flexible and allows easy integration in different vehicle topologies while still providing competitive costs. As electric motors continue to develop, Bosch is enlisting the help of artificial intelligence and new design methods to optimize development, efficiency, performance, and use of materials.

The company uses approaches such as bar winding technology to maximize power density while minimizing size, which enables more freedom in the electric motor layout. Thinner lamination provides greater efficiency.

Bosch has developed electric motors suited for a variety of applications from passenger cars to light commercial vehicle use. Its electric motors can deliver 50 to 500 kW and 150 to 1000 N·m (110 to 738 lb·ft), feature up to 98% efficiency, and have voltage ranges up to 850 V.