Automotive Cells Firm (ACC), a three way partnership between Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz, and TotalEnergies, halted work on two electrical automobile battery gigafactories in Europe, citing a slowdown in EV gross sales progress.
The European three way partnership had deliberate three battery factories within the European Union with a complete funding of roughly $7.6 billion by 2030: one in Kaiserslautern, Germany, one in Termoli, Italy, and one in Douvrin, France. The latter went on-line final yr, however the different two are actually in limbo as ACC is attempting to determine methods to proceed throughout a time when the projections of some EV makers had been a bit too optimistic.
EV progress slowdown is not an industry-wide drawback
Regardless that alarmist headlines may paint a grim image of the present state of EV gross sales, the actual fact is that only a few producers are seeing their numbers go down, the largest of which is Tesla.
“We’re going to regulate our funding plan to the scheme at which Europe goes to undertake EVs,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares stated to reporters in Italy yesterday, in line with Bloomberg. “If the European market shifts to EVs sooner than the plan, we’ll make investments sooner. If the European market shift is slower, then we’ll make investments slower.”
ACC Chief Govt Officer Yann Vincent stated that demand for EVs has slowed in Europe, with progress anticipated solely in mass market segments. Because of this, the German battery gigafactory may find yourself making lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells, that are cheaper than nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries, however they’re additionally much less energy-dense. The corporate stated it wanted to analysis and develop these lower-cost batteries to provide cheaper EVs.
Nonetheless, the way forward for the previous Opel manufacturing facility in Kaiserslautern shall be determined in late 2024 or early 2025, when ACC will verify its industrial and building timeline, in line with Automotive Information. In the meantime, plans for the plant in Termoli, Italy, which beforehand manufactured engines and transmissions, haven’t been introduced but.
Every of the three factories was speculated to have an output of 40 gigawatt-hours per yr, sufficient to energy roughly 600,000 automobiles. Now, with two factories quickly out of the image and the France facility having a capability of solely 13 GWh/yr, the long run seems to be a bit grim when it comes to output.
In the meantime, Mercedes-Benz, which holds a 30% stake in ACC, stated in an announcement that it stays dedicated to the three way partnership and that its electrification plans stay unchanged. Stellantis has a forty five% stake, whereas Saft, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, owns 25% of the corporate.