Siemens shifts its strategy and will focus on offering fast-charging solutions

Siemens has just unveiled the strategic restructuring of its charging solutions division for electric vehicles, with the aim of facing the challenges of the future. In this regard, the German company has decided to focus all its efforts on developing new fast-charging infrastructure.

This decision will, however, come at a significant cost in terms of jobs, as the company plans to cut more than a third of the positions in this area, affecting especially its plant in Leipzig, Germany. In total, Siemens currently has more than 1,300 employees worldwide, and by the end of fiscal year 2025 it will do without 450 of them -250 in Germany-, which represents nearly 35% of the workforce in this division.

The company justifies this measure as part of a strategic change of direction, driven by market conditions. According to Siemens, the sector is currently facing strong price pressure, while the growth of low-power charging stations is also very limited. For this reason, the company has decided to prioritise segments that offer better business prospects, such as fast charging for vehicle fleets or on-route stations.

The Leipzig plant most affected

According to German media, most of the job cuts will be carried out at Siemens’ German plant in Leipzig. Everything seems to indicate that production of high-power charging points at this plant could end, to be transferred to the company’s Portuguese plant in Corroios.

In Leipzig, around 250 employees currently work on the production of Siemens’ SiCharge D fast-charging station, and coincidentally this figure matches the number of redundancies announced by the company across Germany. In any case, this is, for the time being, nothing more than speculation, since Siemens maintains that it is still too early to define the exact consequences of the restructuring it plans to carry out.

It is also worth noting that this move by the company could be linked to the spin-off announced in September 2024, when Siemens revealed plans to make its eMobility unit independent, merging it with Heliox, a charging infrastructure specialist acquired at the beginning of that year. The new entity will seek to focus on profitable areas such as fast charging, leaving behind less competitive segments such as AC charging, where it is very difficult to differentiate without competing on price.