What does this French "Gigafactory" represent?
A Gigafactory of electric batteries finally being deployed in France with dizzying volumes, after years when this term was mainly used to refer to the manufacturer Tesla and its factories. This battery factory will eventually represent a 34-hectare site with 180,000 meters of production space.
In order to launch production at this plant, ACC had to procure battery manufacturing machines from Asia, as no manufacturer is able to supply them in Europe. For the moment, only the first block, 700 meters long and 100 meters wide, has been inaugurated. inaugurated after 18 months and a race against time to complete construction, announced the ACC company. The next two blocks will be of the same size and will see the light of day in the months or years to come.
What are the objectives of this battery factory?
Although the announcement of the opening of this French battery factory has been made, we'll have to wait a few months for the launch of battery production and marketing, which is not expected until the end of 2023.
For the time being and until 2026, batteries will be sold exclusively to the two main shareholders, Stellantis and Mercedes for the production of their electric vehicles. It will therefore not be possible for other manufacturers to order from the Billy-Berclau plant. As a reminder, the Stellantis group owns the brands that produce electric cars such as Peugeot, Opel, Fiat and DS Automobile.
Eventually, ACC promises to produce 500,000 batteries a year by 2030a quarter of the government's target of producing 2 million electric vehicles electric vehicles in France.
France is very ambitious in announcing this project, expressing its desire to be self-sufficient in electric batteries by 2027and its desire to export the plant's output to other European countries.
On the other hand, the establishment of a plant like this one creates thousands of jobs, enabling us to train and recruit training and recruitment of over 20,000 people by the end of the decade.
What's the challenge for this plant?
For these objectives to become a reality, ACC will need to secure its supply of the materials essential to the manufacture of electric batteries, such as lithium, cobalt and manganese, which are found in large quantities in China, the United States and Australia. To this end, Stellantis has already invested in Australian company Element 25, which extracts high-purity manganese monohydrate (HPMSM).
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In conclusion
In conclusion, this battery factory heralds not only a major turning point in the future of electric cars in France, but also on a European scale. We hope it will enable faster delivery of electric vehicles from the Stellantis Group, such as the Peugeot e-208the Fiat 500e or the Mercedes electric cars.
