The electric car battery manufacturer ACC announced this Tuesday a “pause” in the construction of two factories in Kaiserslautern (Germany) and Termoli (Italy). The joint venture of Stellantis, Mercedes and Totalenergies delivered its first battery packs at the end of 2023 from its first factory in Pas-de-Calais (northern France), to equip the new Peugeot 3008.
The other two factories, planned on historic sites of Opel and Fiat, Stellantis brands, will not be built immediately because ACC wants to take a break to face the evolution of battery technologies, a spokesperson explained to AFP, confirming press reports.
“ACC is adapting its battery supply strategy to add new low-cost cell chemistries to its portfolio, in response to changing market demand towards lower-cost vehicles,” said Matthieu Hubert, ACC Secretary General ‘ACC.
4.4 billion euros of debt
The French factory will soon benefit from a second assembly line, with a small total capacity of about 30 gigawatt hours. The Billy-Berclau/Douvrin plant currently produces NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt) lithium-ion batteries, while LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries, a cheaper and more durable, but less powerful alternative, equip each more and more electric cars. , like BYD or Tesla.
These technological advances require “a new phase of research in the coming months to be able to industrialize affordable products,” said Matthieu Hubert. ACC intends to confirm, with its shareholders, its industrial calendar and construction strategy “late 2024-2025”.
Automotive Cells Company (ACC) announced in February that it had incurred debt of €4.4 billion to develop its new production units, with a consortium formed by BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, ING and Intesa Sanpaolo. This financing should allow the construction of four additional production blocks of the nine planned in total.
Stellantis and Mercedes also increased their stake in ACC, reaching approximately 45% and 30% respectively, while TotalEnergies subsidiary Saft was diluted to 25%. In total, around fifty projects of this type have been announced at European level in recent years to avoid leaving Europe at the mercy of Asian battery suppliers, but their financing and construction remain uncertain.
Source: BFM TV
