French President Emmanuel Macron announced that the Chinese company XTC New Energy Materials will build a battery factory in Dunkerque at the presentation of ProLogium’s plans to build a battery plant in the same location.
XTC, together with the French industrial group Orano, is planning a 1.5 billion euro joint venture for the production of cathode material for lithium-ion batteries, he said.
Macron stated: “We just signed, with a joint venture between XTC and Orano, a second investment for the production of cathode material in lithium batteries.” He further added that the venture would create 1,700 jobs in the region.
Just last week, the French president had announced new EV subsidies, similar in format to the US American Inflation Reduction Act, which promises significant financial support for EV and battery manufacturers and supply chain, but also levies production conditions to support local business. “We will be the first European country to reform the criteria for the allocation of the car bonus,” said French President Emmanuel Macron. “This doesn’t mean that we are protectionist, we are not going to close the market, but we don’t want to use the French taxpayers’ money to accelerate non-European industrialisation.”
XTC New Energy Materials is a battery company founded in 2016 and based in the port city of Xiamen on the southeast coast of China. It has so far been active with research and development as well as production and sales of cathode materials almost exclusively within China. The Orano Group is a Paris-based industrial group majority-owned by the French government. Orano emerged from the Areva Group, which was split up as of 2017, and is intrinsically specialized in nuclear engineering equipment and fuels.
For its part, ProLogium’s plans had originally been revealed in March of this year, and were now officially confirmed by the Taiwanese solid-state battery manufacturer.
reuters.com
