Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a joint venture by Stellantis, Total, and Mercedes-Benz, inaugurated its first factory in France. However, the “Grand Opening” is not synonymous with commissioning, which will occur later this year.

ACC says the facility in Billy-Berclau/Douvrin in the Hauts-de-France region has a production area of more than 60 000 square meters. The production line, which will produce the first battery cells before the end of 2023, has an annual capacity of more than 13 GWh.

ACC claims that this output will be reached by the end of 2024. Later, it will build two more production lines, bringing the plant’s capacity to 40 GWh annually by 2030. In the first stage, the plant should produce 56 000 cells per day, enough for 2,4 million battery modules or between 200 000 and 300 000 EVs annually (depending on their bulk and battery size).

Three factories of 40 GWh each

The former PSA and the Total subsidiary Saft initiated the planning for the battery factory in Douvrin and one in Kaiserslautern. With the merger of PSA and FCA to form today’s Stellantis Group, the third ACC site was acquired in Termoli, Italy. With the commissioning of the factories in Kaiserslautern (from 2025) and Termoli (from 2026), which are also designed for up to 40 GWh, ACC aims to achieve a capacity of 120 GWh.

According to ACC, the battery factory in Douvrin is ‘a European flagship’, and not just because of the other facilities in Germany and Italy. France, Germany, Italy, and the European Union support the project. Mercedes-Benz later joined the cooperation between Stellantis and Total.

1 200 kWh per battery

In the press kit, ACC states that the factory is expected to use 230 000 cubic meters of water per year, 90%  of which is used for industrial processes and around 10% for drinking water. There is also one of the rare official figures on the energy consumption of battery production.

For the first block (the 13 GWh yearly production), ACC estimates that it will need 362 GWh of energy per year. According to the company’s calculations, the installed capacity of about 20 modern wind turbines. If the 13 GWh of battery capacity produced in this way can be used to equip up to 300 000 cars, this corresponds to an energy consumption of 1 200 kWh per vehicle battery produced.

Commitment to Europe…

“We are proud to have developed a battery technology in France, whose production in our three sites in France, Germany, and Italy illustrates our commitment to European industrial sovereignty in a strategic sector that is currently dominated by competition from Asia, which accounts for 85% of global battery production,” said ACC CEO Yann Vincent.

“With this inauguration, all ACC employees are committed to contributing to the ecological transition of transport through the production of innovative batteries,” he added.

The three shareholders, too, have high expectations. Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius sees the plant as an important step “to make its auto industry more resilient, competitive, and sustainable, also in the electric era”.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares expects ACC to produce “high-tech batteries, serving clean, safe, and affordable mobility for all”.

With its investments, TotalEnergies aims to strengthen electrification, according to CEO Patrick Pouyanné, contributing to the “transformation of the European energy landscape and the emergence of a more sustainable economy”.

…but also the U.S.

At the same time, Stellantis is planning one or two additional battery factories in the USA. “The US Inflation Reduction Act has created very favorable investment conditions in the country,” CEO Tavares told reporters on the sidelines of the inauguration of the first ACC Gigafactory in France.

Stellantis will need one or even two battery factories in the United States to reach its production targets, said the Portuguese, according to Reuters. However, he did not detail possible partners, timetables, or production volumes.

In total, Stellantis aims to create production capacities for battery cells with a total volume of 400 GWh by 2030. 120 GWh are to be covered by the three European factories mentioned above.

In addition, Stellantis has already announced two battery factories in North America: together with Samsung SDI in the US state of Indiana with 33 GWh in the final stage and one together with LG Energy Solution in the Canadian province of Ontario with 45 GWh.

In total, this amounts to 198 GWh, just under half of the expected demand, not considering that Mercedes will also want its share of the (battery) cake.

It is unclear which share of the 200 GWh will still be produced in North America. In April, there were reports that talks had already occurred between Stellantis and Panasonic about constructing a US battery factory. The talks were still at a very early stage – i.e., with an unclear outcome.

While many Stellantis brands in Europe want to sell only electric cars by the end of the decade, in North America, the group is planning a much longer production with the internal combustion engine. In 2030, half of the sales in the United States are to be accounted for by electric cars, and the other half is still by petrol engines.

The result could be that part of the additional battery production could finally also be based in Europe, closer to where the future EVs will be assembled. In any case, Europe is pushing for it, but the battle with the American IRA incentives will be tough.