By Neil Tyler
Last week France saw its first electric car battery plant with the opening of the Automotive Cells Company’s (ACC) gigafactory near Lens, in the country’s former mining heartlands.
France has provided ACC with an aid package worth £1.1bn(US$1.37billion) – along with Germany and Italy – that forms part of a wider 7bn Euro plan to build a string of new facilities across the countries as they look to compete with China, which currently dominates the EV battery market.
The facility in Lens is set to employ 2000 people and produce over 800,000 batteries per year and comes as the region – referred to as Battery Valley – was chosen by Taiwanese battery manufacturer, ProLogium, for its first overseas facility.
But while France is actively supporting its EV battery industry with green measures and tax credits the UK government stands accused of failing the automotive industry here in the UK, with leading companies including Ford, Jaguar Land Rover and Stellantis, urging it to delay new ‘rules of origin’ that could end up placing additional tariffs on car exports.
The UK’s failure to open car battery plants is putting the UK automotive industry at a severe disadvantage – by contrast France is on course to become self-sufficient in vehicle battery production by 2027.
