Daimler Trucks Forced To Limit Electric Truck Production Due To Severe Chip Shortage

Daimler Truck, forced to reduce production of electric trucks. (photo: twitter @DaimlerTruck)

JAKARTA - Daimler Truck, the world's largest truck maker, said Monday, March 28 it would limit production at some of its factories in Germany due to a critical shortage of semiconductors.

The truck company, which has been separated from Mercedes-Benz since last year, said it would suspend production in some areas at the Mannheim site this March and at the Gaggenau plant next April. However, they did not provide more specific causes except for the chip crisis.

According to the chief executive of Daimler Trucks, the cost of making electric trucks will be "perpetually higher" than trucks with internal combustion engines. This was also reported by the Financial Times reported on Sunday, March 27. This was also due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine which increased the cost of some of the raw materials they had to import.

Martin Daum, chief executive of Daimler Truck, told the media that the government needed to help make a difference in the cost of additional materials used in battery-powered vehicles. "Without any subsidy, the price of trucks (electricity) will always be higher than trucks (internal combustion engines)," he said.

This will be an obstacle for truck manufacturers to meet the target of making environmentally friendly cars, because the internal combustion engines of trucks are known to have quite high pollution.