European electric battery production set to surge

Originally published at Europe in Review on September, 2023

European electric vehicle battery production is set to increase by one thousand percent by 2030, according to an Electricity Storage Europe article on August 10. [EES]

European Union incentives for electric vehicle (EV) purchases, combined with lowering prices for EV caused by the increased supply of the batteries which make up the majority of EV costs, will lead to large scale increase in EV adoption.

Battery cell production capacity in Europe will increase to as much as 1.5 terawatt hours (TWh) in the next eight years, up from a projected 124 GWh in the current year, according to forecasts by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI. [EES]

European leaders have mobilised sufficient capital to ensure that enough batteries will be produced to support EV policy goals by 2030 as the continent tries to transition to electric vehicles. The European public and their EV adoption rate will be the final arbiter of policy success.

Battery Plants

Companies are announcing plans to build battery factories across Germany.

Swedish Northvolt said in May its plans to build a 60 gigawatt hour (GWh) EV battery factory in Heide, Germany, to support production of batteries sufficient to power up to one million EV’s per year starting in 2026. This is equivalent to almost 10 percent of the 10.9 million passenger cars produced in Europe in 2022, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. [*ACEA] [*Bloomberg]

Northvolt is partnering with Volkswagen on the plant, which has an estimated cost of EUR 4 billion, and will be the first plant in Europe to receive financial support under the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF) according to the German Economy Minister Habeck. [*BMWK.DE] [*GTAI]

Germany plans to develop 485GWh of annual production capacity. [EE]

Automotive Cell Company (ACC), a joint venture between auto companies Stellantis and Mercedes with oil major Total, is building a 13GWh factory in Kaiserslautern, which plans to expand to 40GWh. Teslais producing battery electrodes at a plant in Gruenheide. The company has announced plans to eventually produce entire batteries and ultimately expand production to 100 GWh. [Reuters]

Volkswagen has begun construction on a 40GWh plant in Salzgitter. [Autoweek] [EA]

Additional Plants

Additional European countries are building battery production capacity. Volkswagen plans a EUR 3 Billion 40GWh plant in Valencia, Spain. [InsideEVs]

Taiwanese battery maker Prologium has chosen Dunkirk, France as the location for a EUR 5.4 Billion factory, its largest plant and the first outside Taiwan. ACC plans an additional 13GWh plant in the region that will expand to 40GWh. Renault, in a joint venture with battery start-up Verkor, plans to build a 16GWh plant. [Reuters][Prologium]

Chinese Envision AESC also plans production in the French “battery ally” which French President Macron hopes will enable his goal of two million EV produced in France per year by 2030. [LeMonde] [Les Echos]

Indian Tata Group has announced plans to build a 40GWh plant in the UK. [Tata] [ Sky]

(rw/gc)