(Bloomberg) -- Siemens AG will set up its electric car and truck charging business as an independent unit, saying the carve-out will help the division pursue new partnerships and boost growth.
The new arrangement will put its electric-mobility unit on track to be more agile with more freedom to “define its focus areas based on business strengths,” Matthias Rebellius, Siemens’ head of the smart infrastructure division said Monday. The business will be well positioned to build its customer base in EV charging, he added.
The company is combining the division with Heliox, a specialist in DC fast charging solutions for electric buses and trucks that Siemens recently acquired. The move follows Siemens’ decision two years ago to bundle its charging activities into a separate unit.
Munich-based Siemens has a history of carving out and then selling or listing business units, as the company strives to focus on its core competencies in factory automation and software solutions. In May, the company agreed to sell its heavy-duty electric motors unit Innomotics to KPS Capital Partners for €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion). In recent years, it has also separately listed the medical-equipment business, now Siemens Healthineers AG, and its energy division, now Siemens Energy AG.
Siemens didn’t elaborate on its plans for the eMobility unit, which makes hardware, software and services for EV charging, with production and research and development sites in Germany, Portugal, the US, India and the Netherlands.
The move also echoes the strategy at rival ABB Ltd, which initiated a carve-out of its EV-charging operations in 2021 and since planned an initial public offering of the unit.
ABB has postponed the IPO of its unit, citing unfavorable market conditions. Nevertheless, the Swiss company has raised a combined CHF 525 million ($617 million) for the business in two pre-IPO rounds in November 2022 and February 2023. ABB is now weighing a sale of some of its electric mobility assets, which includes EV charging stations worldwide as well as research and development facilities in China.
(Updates with additional details throughout.)
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