Electric bike drive production starts in Hungary

The Bosch Group (Stuttgart, Germany) has opened a new manufacturing building at its Miskolc, Hungary, site, which currently manufactures wiper systems, air-conditioning components, starters, and alternators. The new €20 million ($27 million) facility will manufacture electric bicycle drives.

The new building belongs to the Hungarian subsidiary Robert Bosch Energy and Body Systems Kft, which focuses on the automotive market. In a speech to mark the opening, Bosch board of management member Wolf-Henning Scheider underlined the significance of the location for the Bosch Group: "In terms of associate numbers, Miskolc is becoming the largest European plant of the Bosch divisions Electrical Drives and Starter Motors and Generators." Scheider announced that Bosch would also be starting series production of e-bike drives at its Hungarian locations in Hatvan in addition to Miskolc. Twenty-five bicycle manufacturers already use Bosch e-bike technology, or have announced that they will use it.

By 2014, it is expects that the workforce at Robert Bosch Energy and Body Systems in Miskolc will rise from its present level of roughly 1900 to 3000. A further 1200 manufacture power tools for Robert Bosch Power Tool Kft in another part of the plant. Altogether, the Bosch Group currently employs some 8000  in Hungary. In 2010, sales in the Hungarian market came to €430 million ($582 million).