France opens first electric vehicle battery gigafactory

theguardian.com:

France’s first electric car battery plant has opened in the country’s former mining heartland as part of Emmanuel Macron’s “reindustrialisation” plan.

Three government ministers and numerous local officials attended the inauguration of the Automative Cell Company’s (ACC) gigafactory near Lens, seen as the first step towards France challenging China’s dominance in the sector.

ACC, which is equally owned by TotalEnergies, Jeep maker Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz, has received a €1.3bn package of state aid from France, Germany and Italy as part of a €7bn plan to build a string of new facilities across the countries.

The Lens plant, which will begin production this summer, is expected to eventually create 2,000 jobs – including 400 this year – and produce 800,000 batteries a year. It is the first of three such plants, with sites in Germany and Italy to follow.

The area of northern France, less than 40 miles from the British coast, that has been hit by industrial decline, has been named ‘Battery Valley’. Earlier this month the Taiwanese battery maker ProLogium chose Dunkirk in the same region for its first foreign facility.

Macron hopes to create thousands of jobs by encouraging companies to invest in new factories.

Battery Valley has the enthusiastic support of the French president who this month unveiled a raft of green measures and tax credits – including electric vehicle (EV) subsidies – aimed at attracting billions of euros in new investment to “reindustrialise” France, create jobs and increase manufacturing from 10% of the country’s economic output to 15%.

By contrast, Britain has been warned it is losing the electric vehicle battery race. Earlier this month, three major vehicle makers called on the UK government to renegotiate