TWO PLANTS PERHAPS – The slowdown in the sale of electric vehicles and high costs are holding back development plans batteries. And so there gigafactory who should have been born in Termoli (in the picture of repertoire above) comes postponed on a date to be determined. The same goes for another plant, this time in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Both were to be the core of the company’s drum production Automotive Cells Company (ACC) – a company 45% owned by Stellantis, 30% by Mercedes and 25% by the battery subsidiary of the French TotalEnergies – as part of an investment of 7 billion euros to support the plant in northern France, which is instead increasing production.
PLANS IN THE BEGINNING – The ACC said it needed to focus on research and development of low-cost batteries with the aim of being able to offer cheaper electric vehicles. For this reason it will communicate the new industrial timing and for the construction of new plants at the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025. In the meantime Stellantis has entered into a agreement with the Chinese battery giant CATL for the construction of a plant production of lithium-iron-phosphate batteries in Europe. “We will adapt our electric vehicle investment plans to the pace at which electric vehicle sales on the market grow,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said yesterday, responding to a question about whether the group still supported the company’s three factories. ‘ACC. In contrast, Mercedes said in a statement that it is still active in the ACC and that its electrification strategy is on track.
SLOW MARKET – At European level, the growth of electric car sales is slowed down significantly, also due to high interest rates and cuts to incentives, and consumers prefer to choose hybrid cars or cars with traditional combustion engines. Furthermore, manufacturers on the Old Continent are under pressure from the growing arrivals of vehicles from China, which offer battery-powered cars with lower production costs.
