To develop and manufacture electric vehicle batteries in Europe, Energy major Total and signed a joint venture agreement Groupe PSA. The agreement will create a joint venture company called Automotive Cells Company (ACC)

The project was first announced in January 2020 with an aim to position ACC as a major competitive player in supplying electric vehicle manufacturers. It has received financial support of French and German public authorities representing €1.3 billion and will mobilize an investment of more than €5 billion investment.

Total, via its subsidiary SAFT, will contribute to the project with industrialization and research and development (R&D) expertise, while PSA will contribute its automotive production experience.

It further added that the R&D centre in Bordeaux and the pilot site in Nersac (France) have already started in order to develop the new high-performance lithium-ion technologies. At the end of this R&D phase, mass production could be launched in two gigafactories, in Douvrin (France) and Kaiserslautern (Germany).

Both the parties will work towards developing production capacity estimated at 400 GWh by 2030, i.e. 15 times the current market and ensure industrial independence in Europe for the conception and manufacture of batteries.

They have targetted an initial capacity of 8 GWh, which will reach a cumulative capacity of 48 GWh on both sites by 2030. It will represent 1 million electric vehicles produced per year, i.e. more than 10 percent of the European market.

According to the statement, Yann Vincent has been appointed Chief Executive and Ghislain Lescuyer Chairman of the Board of the joint venture. Ghislain Lescuyer has been appointed Chairman of the Board.