DOUVER A huge factory producing batteries for electric cars was inaugurated in France today, Tuesday. More factories are coming.
The opening day shows that France’s ambitious plan to give the industry a new boost is moving forward apace. The new gigafactory also marks the beginning of a new era in European industrial policy.
– In the past, China and the United States could support their industry however they wanted, and therefore European production was also transferred to these countries. We must also have the right to support our own production and jobs, the French economy minister Bruno Le Maire said in his opening speech.
According to the Minister of Finance, even in 2017, it was not agreed to talk about industrial policy, state aid or state debt in European cooperation. Now, according to him, the situation has completely changed.
The new factory could not have been built without the help of the German and French states.
That’s why Le Maire considers the factory that makes batteries for German, Italian and French cars to be very important for the whole of Europe.
Macron’s project
President Emmanuel Macron has strongly pushed a stricter European line to increase self-sufficient industrial production, but in the absence of a common line, he has focused on France. Macron wants industrial production from faraway countries back to France for three reasons.
First, the corona pandemic revealed the vulnerability of international supply chains, when goods no longer moved conveniently around the globe.
Secondly, international political tension has brought concern about the operation of the trade system that has become normal. The more domestic production there is, the more self-sufficient the countries are.
Third, industry brings work. At least in principle, this also reduces social turmoil, when interesting jobs are offered to young people in the fields of the future.
Car batteries at the forefront
France wants to avoid the problem it has had in recent years with solar panels. Demand has been strong, and there has been no domestic production at all. Practically all the panels have been imported from China, and the money has flowed abroad.
Electric car batteries are likely to be the next corresponding high-demand item – especially as demand for electric cars is higher than predicted.
That is why a total of four large battery factories are being built in France, the first of which is the factory of the French company ACC (Automotive Cells Company) in Douvrin near Lille, which opened on Tuesday.
The factory’s batteries go to Mercedes-Benz and the Stellantis cluster, whose brands include Peugeot, Citroën, Opel and Fiat.
Director of ACC Yann Vincent said at the opening that the factory is competitive with Chinese factories, even though labor costs are higher. In an automated factory, labor costs are a small part of the price. Expenses are partly weighed down by lower transport costs. In addition to the price, customers are attracted by the desire to diversify purchases and have production in Europe.
Other factories being built in France are financed from, for example, China and Taiwan. The factories produce batteries for Renault, for example.
Batteries are an important part of France’s vision of moving from traditional car production to electric cars. At the same time, the country’s industry wants advantages compared to its competitors.
Manufactures: batteries for electric cars for Mercedes-Benz and the Stellantis group, whose brands include Peugeot, Citroën, Opel and Fiat with their subsidiaries. Produces 56,000 battery cells per day.
Owner: Automotive Cells Company (main owner Total Energies)
Size: 650 meters long, 100 meters wide and 30 meters high
Personnel: Employs 900 people
The French company plans to open two similar factories abroad by 2025, one in Germany and the other in Italy. Together, these could produce batteries for a million cars a year.
Finland is also in the picture as a producer of raw materials: ACC buys them from Terrafame and Keliber, among others.
The green transition creates work and takes money
French battery factories are expected to employ around 8,000 people, but they are only a part of the whole. The goal of Macron’s government is to create 600 factories in France within ten years.
The focus of the project is health technology, electronics and energy technology. France strongly supports the manufacture of strategically important microcircuits, as well as the green transition.
The development will especially benefit the northern part of France, which has suffered from the end of mining and the closing of factories in the 1980s. In addition to the battery factories, many other production facilities have been established in the area, for example for the production of diapers, medicines and food packaging.
A lot of public money goes back to this. President Macron, for example, said on May 15 that the government will direct 13 billion euros to 28 new industrial projects. In addition to this, there are subsidies for the green transition and normal industrial subsidies.
The investment also brings foreign investors to the country. Currently, France is the most interesting country in the EU region in terms of industrial investments and the number of start-up companies.