The French energy group total energy looks skeptically at the battery cell factory, which the European Community company ACC is planning in Kaiserslautern. “In my view as an industrial representative, it is better to concentrate the efforts on one work than on three,” said CEO Patrick Pouyanné on Wednesday in an interview with journalists. He also questioned the meaningfulness of the plans in Termoli Italian. It was inaugurated almost a year and a half ago. The production of the first block has started, the high run is underway, a second block is to go into operation in the course of this year. Access that has been reported again and again leaves the difficulties of the rise. Since the last capital increase in March 2024, the total energy subsidiary Juice has had 25 percent, the German car manufacturer Mercedes and the French-Italian car manufacturer Stelltis 45 percent of the shares in the company. It is known that the production of battery cells is a complicated thing , for which it needs a lot of chemical expertise, Pouyanné said. He clearly pointed out the Stellatis boss Carlos Tavares, which was shot in autumn in autumn. “It is not simply robots that you use like in a car factory,” said the total energy boss. If the other two ACC shares wanted other factories, they could like to have them. As a car manufacturer, they did not pursue the same strategy as juice. Even his priorities were on Billy-Berclau. “Total energy will concentrate on France,” said Pouyanné. It is a venture to build a second factory if the first is not yet fully functional. Plans are on ice on ice skepticism from Paris is becoming increasingly questionable whether the light of the world will ever see in Kaiserslautern. The old Opel location in the West Palatinate now symbolizes the failure of the high-end European battery plans. The production “Hochmodern cells” should start there this year, it said in September 2021. “With batteries Made in Germany, we secure value creation and jobs of tomorrow!” Over more than 400 million euros, but for months the plans for Kaiserslautern and Termoli have been on hold. “We decided to suspend our investments in Germany and Italy until we have adapted our plan for industrial development to the actual needs of our customers and the market in Europe,” says ACC. The company does not want to say when (final) decisions on Kaiserslautern. Rumors that battery cells for luxury models from Mercedes are to be manufactured in Kaiserslautern are “baseless”. More on the Themadass the business for Stellantis recently ran worse and CEO Tavares had to go, the matter does not make the matter easier for ACC, observer. The project is already suitable for a limited extent as a success story for batteries made in Europe. Almost all machines for cell production in Billy-Berclau come from China, and the quantities produced by the end of 2024 are just enough for 2000 to 3000 vehicles. They are installed in the electrical Opel Grandland and in the Peugeot models E-3008 Long Range and E-5008 Long Range. The new DS N ° 8 should also be equipped with it. The second block in Billy-Berclau is to produce modules for Mercedes. Employees who previously worked in Kaiserslautern and Termoli are involved in this extension. “The learning curve in the large series production of batteries for electric vehicles” is more difficult than was presented when the company was founded in 2020.
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