By 2025, Europe will be self-sufficient in producing batteries for electric cars

by time news

Time.news – By 2025, European companies will have the capacity to supply all the lithium-ion batteries needed for the continent’s car manufacturers, thus guaranteeing self-sufficiency in a key sector for the future of mobility and beyond.

The EU is banking on its European Battery Alliance, launched in 2017, for reduce dependence on batteries and other imported technologies from the United States or Asia, while pursuing the Green Deal goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

“We expect to be able to cover all the industrial needs of our car manufacturers as regards batteries already by 2025 “, announced the Vice President of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic, in a press conference which was also attended by the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, and the French Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire.

“At that date we expect the giant factories in Europe they will produce between seven and eight million batteries, so more than the current plans for electric vehicle manufacturers, “added Sefcovic, who is already open to export by that date.

Le Maire acknowledged however that achieving the goal will require massive training programs to provide enough skilled workers to allow Europe to catch up with competing battery manufacturers.

“Our goal is train and reconvert 800,000 workers between now and 2025 along the entire value chain for electric vehicles “, he explained in video link from Paris.” We are already investing 20 billion euros in total in 70 projects in 12 Member States, “he added. , we are working on developing independent supplies of key raw materials such as lithium, nickel and graphite “.

“Europe must invest, invest, invest. This is how it will stand at the level of China and the United States, “insisted the French minister. Within the next year, the Commission also hopes to adopt new and stringent environmental standards for batteries, including the recycling of materials, to counteract cheaper and less sustainable imports that would undermine the EU’s green efforts. “I am sure that batteries in Europe will be the most environmentally friendly and sustainable, and their performance will be the best in the world,” said Sefcovic confidently.

The alliance, often referred to as “the Airbus of batteries”, involves dozens of companies including car manufacturers and energy groups. Sefcovic also announced that it will work with the European Investment Bank to leverage additional private funds and raise another € 50 billion to meet the ambitious 2025 targets. In April, he said, the Commission and private companies will sign an agreement to finance “cutting-edge” research for an amount of approximately 900 million euros.

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