A view shows the Fiat Panda in Kragujevac, Serbia
Stellantis announced on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with China's CATL to create a joint venture for the construction of a low-cost lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery gigafactory in Zaragoza, Spain.
The joint venture, owned equally by Stellantis and CATL, will be supported by an investment of up to 4.1 billion euros, the press release said.
“Scheduled to begin production by the end of 2026 at the Stellantis site in Zaragoza, Spain, the plant could reach a capacity of up to 50 GWh, depending on the evolution of the electricity market in Europe and the continued support from the Spanish authorities and the European Union”, specify the two groups.
The transaction is expected to be finalized during 2025.
In November 2023, Stellantis announced that it was considering such a project to produce in Europe this battery technology that is less energy dense, but more affordable than NMC (Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt), in order to lower the selling price of electric vehicles ( VE) and prepare for Chinese competition.
Last June, the battery manufacturer Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a joint venture of Stellantis, Mercedes and TotalEnergies, which produces NMC in the North of France, had interrupted its two other gigafactory projects in Germany and France. Italy as part of a reflection on the future choice of battery chemistry and in the face of the slowdown in the EV market.
(Written by Noémie Naudin, with Gilles Guillaume, edited by Augustin Turpin and Blandine Hénault)
France
