Stellantis, together with TotalEnergies and Mercedes-Benz, celebrated the inauguration of Automotive Cells Company’s (ACC) battery gigafactory in Billy-Berclau Douvrin, France, the first of three planned in Europe.
With an initial production line capacity of 13 gigawatt-hours (GWh), rising to 40GWh by 2030, the facility will deliver high-performance lithium-ion batteries with a minimal CO2 footprint. The first of the site’s three European production units will be operational before the end of 2023.
Benefiting from the latest safety and environmental management standards, the site will have an industrial water consumption 5 to 10 times lower than that of a standard car manufacturing plant and will recycle 90% of its waste. The site has been classified SEVESO, a European regulation designed to maintain a high level of prevention and guarantee the highest standards and control in terms of safety.
With the implementation of two other gigafactories in Kaiserslautern (Germany) in 2025 and Termoli (Italy) in 2026, ACC’s industrial capacity will reach 120 GWh at full capacity by 2030.
The gigafactory will contribute to Stellantis’ goal of increasing battery manufacturing capacity to 250 GWh in Europe by 2030 and advance the company on its mission to offer a comprehensive suite of battery technologies that supports customers’ needs across the entire Stellantis brand portfolio. Stellantis is securing approximately 400 GWh of capacity by 2030, supported by five gigafactories in Europe and North America and additional supply contracts.
“At the outset of this partnership in 2020, we agreed to an ambitious global timeline to develop electric-vehicle batteries that would power our plan to electrify mobility,” said Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO. “As we execute our Dare Forward 2030 strategy and now move to hit our ambitious target of achieving carbon net zero by 2038, Stellantis is actively contributing to the European electrification transition with state-of-the-art EV solutions and supporting France’s crucial role in a sustainable future. I applaud every person involved in ACC for together we are building a strong coalition to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness.”
The company now has 24 BEVs in market and will nearly double that to 47 by the end of 2024. Stellantis targets having more than 75 BEVs globally and global BEV sales of 5 million by 2030. Today, Stellantis electric vehicles, the Peugeot e-208 and Fiat New 500, are among the top five bestsellers in France and in the top 10 in Europe.
As battery chemistries continuously evolve, Stellantis is exploring all technologies to meet the diverse needs of its broad customer base and to ensure clean, safe and affordable mobility. Promising innovative solutions, like Factorial’s solid-state battery technology and Lyten’s lithium-sulfur batteries, may help enable enhanced vehicle performance and customer experience, creating a more sustainable electric-vehicle experience for all.
Alongside battery production, Stellantis, ACC, the Union of Metallurgies Industries, the state and region are establishing the Battery Training Center of Douvrin as part of its upskilling and reskilling program. Through a 400-hour course, Stellantis employees will acquire new skills in battery manufacturing, helping the Hauts-de-France region compete in a sector that is crucial to the electrification transition. By 2025, at least 600 employees will join the battery manufacturing plant.
As part of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan, Stellantis announced plans of reaching 100% of the passenger car BEV sales mix in Europe and 50% of passenger car and light-duty truck BEV sales mix in the United States by 2030. Stellantis is on track to become a carbon net zero corporation, all scopes included, by 2038, with single-digit percentage compensation of the remaining emissions.
