Groupe PSA
30.01.2020
D he French During a tour of the Saft Nersac plant, President Emmanuel Macron revealed the first details about a planned new Giga-Factory in Germany. In order to cope with this billion-euro project, the companies Saft and the Groupe PSA (Citroën, DS, Opel, Peugeot and Vauxhall) will set up a 50:50 joint venture called the Automotive Cell Company (ACC). During the commercial production phase, Saft's stake in ACC is expected to drop to 33 percent.
The first phase of the project consists of building a pilot plant on the premises of the Saft plant in Nersac. The 200 million euro facility is scheduled to go into operation in mid-2021. This facility alone is expected to create 200 jobs in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. Once the test phase has been successfully completed, the next step will be a large-scale production plant in the Nord-Hauts-de-France region with an initial capacity of 8 GWh in 2023. Later 24 GWh should be achieved here.
Volkswagen
The entire project is expected to cost five billion euros.
Only the pilot project
If this project has also been successfully completed, it is Germany's turn. Construction work in Kaiserlautern is scheduled to begin in 2024. The Giga-Factory should also have a capacity of up to 24 GWh, so that in 2030 a total capacity of 48 GWh will be achieved, which corresponds to estimates according to 10-15 percent of the future European market. The total cost of the project amounts to five billion euros.
Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller is confident: “We are setting the course for the future. In Kaiserslautern we are building Germany's largest battery cell plant. Together with our partner Saft, we are investing billions and creating 2,000 jobs. ”In the coming months, an event in Kaiserslautern will take placePeter Altmaier, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, among others, underline the seriousness of the project.
It remains to be seen whether the Giga factory will actually be built. When auto motor und sport asked how safe the final construction would be in view of the test phases to be completed beforehand, Opel said: “There are still some formalities to be clarified. However, we assume that the production facility will be built in Kaiserslautern. ”
