Taiwan chooses France for its first overseas automotive battery factory

Issuance of: 2023/12/05 – 17:22

The group hopes to start production at the end of 2026 and scale production up over the next few years until it has around 3,000 employees at the plant.

By 2030, it will invest 5.2 billion euros in Dunkirk, which will produce batteries for hundreds of thousands of cars when it is fully operational.

The group specializes in developing “solid-state” batteries that are believed to be stronger, safer and charge faster than the lithium-ion batteries commonly used in electric vehicles.

Prorhodium will become the fourth battery plant in northern France, joining an emerging cluster of specialists at the heart of European development. Electric car industry.

Europe relies heavily on Asian-manufactured batteries for its electric vehicles, and countries offer various incentives to boost the electric-vehicle industry.

The issue has become more urgent since the US passed a $430 billion inflation control bill last year. carbon emissions while promoting domestic production and manufacturing.

good connection

and Taiwan The company, which has become a focal point of tensions between the US and China, wants to set up a presence overseas so it can sustain its operations in the long term.

Founder and CEO Vincent Yang said, “Due to political issues, our board of directors is reluctant to expand our production capacity in Taiwan too much.”

Taiwan group decided Dunkirk Normand said that because many electric car factories are located in Northern Europe, they are closer to their customers.

“Dunkirk is very well served by rail, road and motorway traffic. It’s a deep-sea port, so it’s easy to import and export some of our products,” Normand said.

“It is no exaggeration to say that northern France has a developing battery ecosystem.”

Prorhodium said the plant will bring 12,000 indirect jobs to the region.

seduction operation

Taiwanese business executives say France beat out competition from Germany and the Netherlands for prorhodium plants after lobbying from President Emmanuel Macron and a easing of the pact.

Also in France’s favor was competitively priced, zero-carbon electricity produced by one of the world’s largest utilities. Nuclear power plant All over the world, more and more electricity is being generated from offshore wind farms and solar PV.

Mr Normand said Mr Macron pitched Mr Yang more than a year ago and personally met him at the start of the scrutiny process.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire followed suit, helping the company to make its case to the European Commission about EU financial incentives.

President Macron formally announced an investment of 5.2 billion euros on Friday during a visit to Dunkirk, a town with high unemployment where the far right and far left are rooted.

The timing of the investment was serendipitous for the French president, who is turning the pages of months of strikes and protests over his policies. pension reform Raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Macron wants to show skeptical voters that his pro-business efforts are paying off.

(with wire)