One month after the opening in Douvrin in Pas-de-Calais of the first factory producing batteries for electric cars in France, in this case that of Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a joint venture between Stellantis, TotalEnergies and Mercedes, the startup Verkor, founded in 2020, inaugurated this Thursday in Grenoble its pilot plant for high-power batteries, which will notably supply the future SUV of the Alpine brand. Production is highly automated: only around a hundred people work in the manufacture of batteries, out of a total of 350 employees. The small Grenoble factory of 15,000 square meters was built for 250 million euros on a former Siemens site, between the SNCF rails and the Isère. Verkor then plans to open the third French giga-factory in 2025 in Dunkirk (North), after that of Stellantis (Douvrin) and that of Renault (Douai).
Formation
Dunkirk will be “a replica to the factor 100 (of the site) of Grenoble” on a 150 hectare site, indicated Christophe Mille, the technical director of Verkor.
“The VIC is where we design, test and validate our new products. It is the merger of an innovation center with an ultra-modern production plant,” explained Christophe Mille. A training center has been added to train 1,600 people in the battery business, and in particular the future operators of Dunkirk.
A shareholder in the company alongside Schneider Electric and Arkema, among others, Renault has undertaken to buy three-quarters of its production.
round table
In the meantime, Verkor should complete its round of funding of two billion euros before the end of 2023, the majority of which in debt, said Philippe Chain, one of the co-founders. Supported by French and European public funds, the start-up is, according to members of the government, one of the symbols of reindustrialisation, which should help French industry achieve the objective set by Emmanuel Macron of two million cars produced in France in 2030, after long years of relocation.
Its batteries made of lithium, nickel and cobalt must offer “better energy density and higher power capacity than those fitted to ordinary electric cars”, explained Philippe Chain, a former Renault and Tesla employee.
Verkor says it has “secured a number of contracts” to source critical materials, which “meet criteria of traceability, carbon footprint, and social responsibility”. It will also have access to some of the materials reserved by Renault from Finland’s Terrafame (nickel) and Germany’s Vulcan (lithium). If the automobile is the “raison d’être” of Verkor, the company also seeks to diversify into batteries for other vehicles such as construction machinery, and stationary storage for solar or wind energy, for example, where “the needs are going to be massive”, specified Philippe Chain.
Automotive batteries: where does Europe stand?
An Asian specialty, the production of automotive electric batteries is developing in Europe, with more than 50 lithium-ion battery factory projects announced on the old continent by 2030, whereas they are almost non-existent today. According to the European NGO Transport and Environment, the exact number of projects for the establishment of car electric battery factories listed in Europe amounts to 54. Germany is at the forefront with 15 projects in the boxes, followed by Hungary (5 projects), France (4) and Norway (4), according to the T&E census.
The two largest projects are the factory of the world’s number one manufacturer of batteries for electric vehicles, the Chinese CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology) in Debrecen, Hungary (100 GWh per year) and that of the South Korean LG Chem in Wroclaw , in Poland (125 GWh). The Tesla factory in Berlin aims to reach 50 GWh, but could push annual production to 100 GWh, said the CEO of the American group, Elon Musk. In France, the Automative Cells Company (ACC) plant, owned equally by Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies, recently inaugurated in Billy-Berclau in the north of France, will have a production capacity of 40 GWh in 2030, thanks to three production lines of 13.5 GWh each. The first will be effective by the end of 2024, according to the group. ACC also has a plant project in Italy at Termoli, and another in Germany. In France, three other factory projects have been announced: that of the Sino-Japanese group Envision AESC which is due to open in Douai in 2024 (20 GWh) next to the Renault factory, a third of 50 GWh with the French start-up Verkor is planned for Dunkirk, by 2030. And a fourth “solid” battery factory (still experimental technology), announced on May 12 by the Taiwanese ProLogium in Dunkirk, which aims for 2026 for its commissioning and 48 GWh of ability.
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