As part of President Emmanuel Macron’s re-industrialisation plan, France is to open a factory in Billi-Berclau on Tuesday to make batteries for electric cars, the first of its kind, to challenge Chinese dominance in the industry. Challenges. AFP Reports
Building up the battery industry is part of Macron’s plan to see a clutch of factories spring up in the north of the country over the next three years.
The “gigafactory” is owned by the automotive sales company, a partnership between French energy giant TotalEnergies, Germany’s Mercedes-Benz and US-European carmaker Stellantis, which makes a number of brands including Peugeot, Fiat and Chrysler. .
The opening ceremony will be attended by French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire and the country’s energy transition and industry ministers, as well as German and Italian officials.
Heads of Mercedes, Stellantis and Total Energy will also be at the event.
The factory, as big as a football pitch, will begin production this summer.
Elected officials and business leaders plan to turn the Hauts-de-France region into “Battery Valley” — the electric car industry’s answer to Silicon Valley.
AESC-Envision – a Sino-Japanese group – is building a plant near the city of Douai that will supply French carmaker Renault from early 2025.
French start-up Verkor is due to start production at a facility in Dunkirk from mid-2025, while Taiwan’s ProLogium has also chosen the coastal city for its first European factory, with production starting in 2026.
Competition between the US and China
As the European Union (EU) has set a 2035 deadline for phasing out fossil fuel-powered cars, countries are working to meet the electric vehicle target within that deadline. are racing to speed up production.
In recent years, around 50 battery factory projects have been announced in the EU and the French government has set a target of producing 2 million electric vehicles per year by 2030, according to the Ministry of Economy.
“The ACC plant will supply 500,000 vehicles per year by then,” the ministry said.
China is the world leader in the production of electric car batteries and also dominates the production of the raw materials needed to make them.
Europe also faces stiff competition from the United States, which is heavily subsidizing the sector through the Deflation Act, which includes $370 billion in clean energy incentives.