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France opens its first battery...French government has set a target of generating two million electric vehicles each year by 2030.
A battery factory for electric cars is expected to open in France over the next three years as part of French President Emmanuel Macron's "reindustrialization" agenda. The plant in Billy-Berclau is the first of several that will open over the next three years along a northern corridor dubbed "Battery Valley" for the rapidly expanding industry.
Europe is rushing to accelerate the manufacture of batteries and electric vehicles in order to meet the European Union's target of phasing out the sale of new fossil-fuel vehicles by 2035. According to the Economy Ministry, the French government has set a target of generating two million electric vehicles each year by 2030. The "gigafactory" is controlled by Automotive Cells Company, collaboration between TotalEnergies, Germany's Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis, a US-European carmaker that produces Peugeot, Fiat, and Chrysler.
The ceremony will be attended by French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, as well as the country's energy transition and industry ministers, as well as German and Italian officials. Mercedes, Stellantis, and TotalEnergies executives will also be in attendance. The factory is the size of six football fields. Production will commence this summer.