Monday to Friday
9am - 12.30pm - 2pm - 7pm
What does this French "Gigafactory" represent?
A Gigafactory for electric batteries is finally being rolled out in France, in staggering volumes, after years of the term being used mainly to refer to the manufacturer. Tesla and its factories. This battery factory will eventually represent a 34-hectare site with 180,000 metres of production area.
In order to launch production at this plant, ACC has had to obtain the machines needed to manufacture the batteries from Asia, as no manufacturer is able to supply them in Europe. For the time being, only the first block, 700 metres long and 100 metres wide, has been produced. inaugurated after 18 months and a race against time to complete construction, announced ACC. The next two blocks will be of the same size and will see the light of day in the coming months or years.
What are the objectives of this battery ?
Although the announcement of the opening of this French battery factory has been made, we will have to wait a few months for the launch of battery production and for the marketing of the batteries, which are not expected until the end of 2023.
For the time being, and until 2026, the 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 2030This is a quarter of the target set by the French government to produce 2 million electric vehicles per year in France.
France was even very ambitious in announcing this project, expressing its desire to be autonomous with electric batteries by 2027and his desire to export the plant's production to other European countries.
On the other hand, the establishment of a plant such as this will create thousands of jobs, helping to train and recruit over 20,000 people by the end of the decade.
What's the challenge for this plant?
For these objectives to become a reality, the CCA will need to secure its supply of the materials that are essential for the manufacture of electric batteries, such as lithium, lead and zinc. cobalt or manganese, which is found in large quantities in China, the United States and Australia. Stellantis has already anticipated this and has become an investor in Element 25 in Australia, which extracts extra pure manganese monohydrate (HPMSM).
Read also : Semiconductor shortage: what impact will it have on electric cars?
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 that this will enable faster delivery of electric vehicles from the Stellantis Group, such as the Peugeot e-208the Fiat 500e or even cars Electric Mercedes.
