PSA and Total create JV for manufacture of EV batteries in Europe; €5B investment - Green Car Congress

Groupe PSA/Opel and Total/Saft have signed an agreement for the creation of the joint venture Automotive Cells Company (ACC). Yann Vincent has been appointed Chief Executive in order to implement and develop it. Ghislain Lescuyer has been appointed Chairman of the Board.

With this partnership, the parties are setting up a world-class player in the development and manufacture of high-performance batteries for the automotive industry from 2023.

Total/Saft will contribute its expertise in R&D and industrialization, and Groupe PSA its knowledge of the automotive market and its experience in production.

The R&D center in Bordeaux and the pilot site in Nersac (France) have already started in order to develop the new high-performance lithium-ion technologies. At the end of this R&D phase, mass production could be launched in two “gigafactories”, in Douvrin (France) and Kaiserslautern (Germany).

This project aims to:

Respond to the challenges of the energy transition by reducing the environmental footprint of vehicles throughout the value chain in a desire to offer clean and affordable mobility to citizens.
Produce batteries for electric vehicles that will be at the highest technological level in terms of energy performance, autonomy, recharging time and carbon footprint.
Develop production capacity, essential to accompany the growth demand for electric vehicles in a European market estimated at 400 GWh by 2030, i.e. 15 times the current market.
Ensure industrial independence in Europe for the conception and manufacture of batteries, with an initial capacity of 8 GWh, reaching a cumulative capacity of 48 GWh on both sites by 2030. It will represent 1 million electric vehicles produced per year, i.e. more than 10% of the European market.
Position ACC as a major competitive player in supplying electric vehicle manufacturers.

This project benefits from the financial support of French and German public authorities representing €1.3 billion. It received the European institutions agreement through an IPCEI project that testifies to the strategic importance of mobility for the energy transition. The whole project will mobilize an investment more than €5 billion investment.

The construction of the European battery consortium that we wished for is now a reality. I would like to pay special tribute to the commitment of the Total/Saft and Groupe PSA/Opel teams who have made this project come true. This new step is consistent with our central purpose: “to offer citizens clean, safe and affordable mobility” and gives Groupe PSA a competitive advantage in the context of growing sales of electric vehicles. ACC takes Groupe PSA further along the road to carbon neutrality.
—Carlos Tavares, Chairman of Groupe PSA

Saft specializes in advanced technology battery solutions for industry, from design and development to production, customization and service provision. Saft is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Total, a major energy player that produces and markets fuels, natural gas and low-carbon electricity.

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