Italy has just carried out its threat

The Ministry of Enterprise was due to meet with Stellantis this week to clarify the situation at the ACC battery plant. The Italians have finally carried out their threat.

This is very bad news for the electric car battery sector, as it is currently seeking to gain its independence in Europe from Asian supremacy. Stellantis, which participates with Mercedes in the ACC joint venture, had plans to build a battery plant in Italy at the Termoli site. ACC, which has already started production in Douvrin, is thus to expand in Europe through three sites: France, Italy and Germany. However, the market now seems to be turning to less expensive LFP batteries. ACC unfortunately bet on NMC chemistry from the start and has therefore chosen to wait and see while reviewing its plans. A vague situation that did not please the Italian government, which was waiting for guarantees for the Termoli gigafactory.

Threat to be carried out

The Italian Ministry of Enterprise was therefore due to meet with Stellantis management this week to clarify the matter. But the guarantees were clearly not sufficient according to Adolfo Urso, the Minister in charge of Enterprise. While ACC is putting some of its projects on hold, Italy has therefore chosen to no longer allocate public funds intended to help Stellantis build and develop its battery factory in Italy. We are talking about an envelope of 250 million euros out of the 2 billion needed to build the battery assembly lines. In the meantime, ACC is working on an R&D project to “add new chemistries to its technology portfolio”. And all is not lost for the joint venture between Stellantis and Mercedes since Italy says it is ready to “consider the allocation of other funds, of a different nature, when ACC is able to present the new industrial plan for Termoli, including the new technology“. We must still not waste too much time in the face of a Chinese monopoly that is already difficult to break today.