A new facility in North Carolina will be the focus of electric powertrains and charging solutions
Deere & Company, which includes the John Deere and Kreisel brands, has selected a location in Kernersville, North Carolina, for the construction of a 115,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.
The factory will expand production capacity of Kreisel Electric products. Kreisel, which John Deere acquired majority ownership of in 2022, produces battery technology for e-mobility and stationary systems as well as Level 3 charging solutions. At ConExpo earlier this year, John Deere showcased a new electric excavator powered by a Kreisel battery.
The planned production facility can support a production capacity of up to 2GWh. John Deere plans to break ground on the new facility in Q3 2023, and production is estimated to begin in 2025.
This new facility will support a production capacity increase to serve the off-highway market in North America. John Deere is also upfitting a facility to enable battery production at its factory in Saran, France — the primary manufacturing location for John Deere engines in Europe. The Kernersville-based facility will have a non-fossil-fuel-consuming design and is prioritising sustainable energy features in major systems like the facility’s HVAC, energy recovery system, state-of-the-art lighting, and irrigation control.
“Within the evolving off-highway equipment market, we are prioritising the development of a robust charging ecosystem and battery portfolio that can support and sustain the long-term adoption of electrification across a wide variety of applications,” Senior Vice President of John Deere Power Systems and Chairman of Kreisel Pierre Guyot says.