Plenty of prominence was ensured when the first battery cell factory on French soil was inaugurated a few weeks ago in Billy-Berclau. In addition to the heads of Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis and Totalenergies, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing also stopped by. After all, the Automotive Cells Company (ACC), which is jointly owned by the groups and is building another plant in Kaiserslautern, is the result of an industrial policy agreement between Berlin and Paris. France’s Finance and Economics Minister Bruno Le Maire spoke of a “great day for industry in Europe”.
But anyone who believed that the inauguration of the new Gigafactory would be a substantial step out of dependence on China was wrong. Because almost all machines for the production of battery cells come from the Middle Kingdom. The small remainder is of Japanese or South Korean origin, while one looks in vain for machines made in Europe in Billy-Berclau. For the time being, the dependency on China is merely continuing there – with the risk that Beijing could one day restrict the export of components or spare parts, as is currently the case with the raw materials germanium and gallium.