Paris: As the sale of electric cars took off and gasoline engines facing removed in 2035, Europe was looking to develop its own battery production base.
Far from autonomous, Europe needs to accelerate domestic battery output as a national security problem and encouragement for business and work.
The battery that gives electric car power and which weighs up to 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds), represents most of the vehicle value.
At present, they are mostly produced in Asia, with China, South Korea and Japanese leading manufacturers.
With the mid-July announcement that he intended to ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel vehicles in 2035, the European Commission has set a schedule for a block shift to an electric car.
Many car makers, who feel in the direction of the wind blowing with the government, has now announced plans to switch to electric vehicles.
Germany Daimler is the latest, announcing last week that from 2025 will only launch an electric vehicle platform when preparing for a full shift to an electric car from 2030.
Not only the government has driven the change, because the latest European data shows that electric cars doubled the market share They were in the second quarter of 2021.
If Europe will shift to an electric car, it will need a lot of batteries.
After years of taking place, there are now plans to invest 40 billion euros ($ 47 billion) in 38 European factories that can produce 1,000 hours of gigawatts batteries per year, according to transportation & environment, non-governmental organizations.
With an average battery capacity of 60 kilowatt hours, it will be enough to power 16.7 million vehicles, according to the group.
One initiative is Sweden Northvolt, who already has a factory in construction, which produces a battery with a total capacity of 150 gigawatt hours in 2030.
Volkswagen is the main partner, and German car makers also tried to build five other factories.
Daimler, as part of the announcement of the past week, said it would build eight battery plants around the world for Mercedes-Benz and smart cars.
Stelllantis, which includes 12 brands including Fiat, Chrysler, Jeep and Peugeot, plans to build five factories in Europe and North America.
Tesla hopes to open the first European “Gigafactory” near Berlin this year, which he claimed to be the largest battery cell production site in the world with a capacity of 250 gigawatts in 2030.
Vice President of the European Union Commission Maros Sefcovic recently said the factories were recently It is planned that the EU “is both on track to achieve open strategic autonomy in this critical sector”.
The view was not shared by Olivier Montique, an automotive analyst at Fitch Solutions.
He said the facilities planned “will make an important player block in space, but it will not allow him to meet anywhere close to all his internal requests for EV batteries.” Montique said that why the car maker still worked with Asian battery makers.
The Chinese Assembly imagines partnering with Nissan and Renault to build a factory in the UK and France.
South Korean company LG Chem and ski has plants in Poland and Hungary, while Cat China builds one in Germany.
Raw materials are of course important for producing batteries.
Car batteries currently use lithium-ion technology, similar to what gives strength to most of the current electronic devices.
Unless there is a quick breakthrough in a solid-state battery that can use other ingredients, a large number of lithium will be needed.
Europe has domestic lithium sources, especially in the Czech Republic and Germany, but may also have to depend on imports.
Montique said Europe would likely end up “Develop a supply agreement with a market where there are abundant resources, favorable diplomatic bonds, and a strong investment framework” to reduce the threat of deficiencies.