Northvolt is an ambitious and structuring project for the EU, in its threefold quest for strategic independence, reindustrialization and decarbonation of mobility. It is the European pioneer founded in 2015. On behalf of the 2,200 employees of ACC, I would like to express our sympathy and support to the entire Northvolt teams in the face of this regrettable situation. Even if our two companies are not entirely comparable (vertical integration strategy from upstream to downstream of battery production, product diversity, etc.), we can only welcome today's announcements with sadness and concern.

 

The crucial, even existential, question we are ultimately faced with is this: is it really possible to build a sufficiently competitive battery industry in Europe? Competitive enough to be able to look, without arrogance, in the eyes of BYD, CATL, Samsung, LG and EVE? Competitive enough to constitute, in the eyes of European carmakers, credible alternative to the total stranglehold that Asian competition is exerting on our market?

 

For me, for ACC teams, the answer is YES: in the medium term, we can become competitive. Not by incantations. Competitiveness cannot be decreed. But by activating a number of levers, which we are obviously already working on, even though not all of them are in our hands. The main ones include:

- A solid technological and industrial base, capable of innovation. Even if it means pooling resources between several emerging players at European level. Let's remember that in less than 5 years of existence, ACC has built up, along with an R&D centre and a ‘state of the art’ pilot plant in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, a first production block, which supplies the first modules that are already equipping vehicles on the road (E-5008, Opel Grand-Land, etc.). A second production block is currently being fitted out with machines, and the lines will start running end of 2025. This is both necessary and probably insufficient in the medium term to hold its own against Asian competitors

- A skilled, qualified, trained and experienced workforce, capable of developing innovative technical solutions, mastering the industrial processes… ACC currently employs more than 2,000 people of 55 different nationalities.

- Operational excellence. We've been producing in France for several months, we've been making steady progress. By the first quarter of 2025, the number of cells produced per week have passed the 25,000 mark. The equivalent of 200 vehicles a week, or 3 times more than at the end of 2024. This progress is encouraging, but not fast enough. Be excellent operationally means multiplying these figures by more than 20, by increasing our yield while reducing our scrap rate.

- Controlling labour costs, which requires appropriate staffing, organisation and resources. This is the aim of the voluntary departure plan currently being rolled out at the Bruges and Paris sites, which concerns the structure of ACC.

- Securing the purchase of raw materials at competitive prices. Without the impetus and leadership of Europe, nothing will really be possible, or sufficient.

- Access to energy at an attractive cost, with the support of public authorities.

 

It is the activation of all these levers that will enable us to ensure the competitiveness, and therefore the long-term future, of ACC. This activation has already begun. It will continue to grow, with all of ACC's energy focused on this objective. But if the time frame in which our action is taking place is a relatively long one (the time of the pioneers, the trailblazers of which we are part), the challenges to be met require very short-term actions and decisions. The experience we are gaining through the ramp-up of our Gigafcatory proves to us that electro-chemistry is an industrial process that is difficult to control, and very costly. We find that the volumes produced are not the same as those set out in the initial development plans, and that CAPEX and OPEX are higher than anticipated.

 

In the very short term, we therefore need a support system, with funding payments for manufacturers in the production start-up phase. A scheme to support our fledgling industry as it passes through the ‘valley of death’, which corresponds to the period when Gigafactories are producing little, and therefore generate little sales, and face high operating expenses after having invested billions of euros in production. This reality is still poorly understood by the European Union, which has yet put this sector at the heart of its strategic autonomy and decarbonisation plan. There is an urgent need to act, as the Northvolt case shows.

 

It is because we are convinced that we can be competitive tomorrow that we are asking for support today. Not to do so would be a major strategic defeat for our continent. This would be tantamount to letting our fledgling business collapse, rather than giving it a chance to develop and compete with Chinese, Korean and Japanese battery suppliers.