16 January/February 2024 | E-Mobility Engineering Scania AB’s head of battery production Tony Persson explains to Rory Jackson his company’s key role in the development of electric vehicles for demanding applications Pushing the limits The race to electrify road vehicles is bringing with it a race to develop internal competencies in producing key e-mobility technologies, and battery packs frequently make the top of the list. As of mid-2023, around 30 battery factories were planned, being built, or already operational in the US, with around 35 in the EU and several times more in China. Major OEMs of large commercial vehicles are particularly driven to hone their capabilities in battery engineering and manufacturing as heavy trucks, lorries and buses have unique physical and performance needs. This affects how optimal batteries for such applications must be designed and produced. As Scania AB’s head of battery production, Tony Persson is closely acquainted with those needs, and with the steps that the Swedish multinational is taking to meet them in its current and coming generations of heavy electric vehicles. Though Persson had worked in Scania since 2000, starting then as an engineer and project manager, his first experiences with electrification took place between 10-15 years ago, by which time he had become manager for the production of all of Scania’s bus chassis. “We’d only ever produced ICE-powered buses by that time, but someone from Scania R&D came down to the production line and told us that they wanted to produce an electric Scania bus – this was still before Tesla had become a big name with either the Model 3 or its large-scale battery production, so it seemed a bizarre proposition at the time,” Persson recounts. “But I’m glad we took on that project. Even if it didn’t materialise into a massproduced electric bus at the time, it was a huge eye-opener for me that heavy commercial vehicles didn’t need to have a conventional drivetrain – that EVs were something that could work safely and efficiently – and that thought has stayed with me since then.” Though he took a sojourn away from employment in Scania and a foray into independent consulting starting in 2014 (including some indirect work for Scania), that lingering interest in what could have been an electric bus powertrain drove him to return to the Swedish multinational in 2019. That was As Scania’s head of battery production, Tony Persson is managing the Swedish OEM’s growing capabilities in heavy vehicle electrification (Images by Dan Boman, courtesy of Scania)
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