France today opens the very first car battery factory within its borders. Building a large battery industry is an important part of French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to reindustrialize France. As part of this, several factories are to be built in the north of France over the next three years.
The “gigafactory” in Billy-Berclau that opens today is six football fields in length. The production of car batteries should start this summer.
The plant is owned by Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a partnership of French energy giant TotalEnergies, German Mercedes-Benz and American-European automaker Stellantis that produces car brands such as Peugeot, Fiat and Chrysler.
“Battery Valley”
Politics and business hope to transform the Hauts-de-France region into “Battery Valley”, the electric car industry’s answer to Silicon Valley. France talks about “a decisive step for our energy autonomy”.
According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the French government wants to produce two million electric cars per year by 2030. It also added that the ACC factory will be supplying batteries to 500,000 vehicles a year by then. Tens of thousands of jobs would be created.
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