TotalEnergies questions further ACC battery factories

“From my point of view as an industry representative, it is better to concentrate efforts on one plant than three,” said CEO Patrick Pouyanné in an interview, as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported. What Pouyanné is referring to is obvious: he clearly states that his priorities lie with the existing factory in Billy-Berclau. “Totalenergies will concentrate on France,” says Pouyanné. Building a second factory is risky when the first one is not yet fully operational.

TotalEnergies holds 25 per cent of the ‘Automotive Cells Company’ through its subsidiary Saft; the other shareholders are Mercedes-Benz (30 per cent) and Stellantis (45 per cent). TotalEnergies CEO Pouyanné’s statements are thus quite controversial. The smallest partner wants to concentrate on France. At the same time, Mercedes and Stellantis, with Opel and the Italian Fiat brands, are also interested in starting battery production at the former Opel plant in Kaiserslautern and the Fiat site in Termoli for political reasons. The FAZ also writes: “The scepticism from Paris makes it increasingly questionable whether battery cell production will ever see the light of day in Kaiserslautern.”

Pouyanné’s comments are likely to cause controversy within the shareholder group, as they also call into question the three-way alliance itself: If the other two ACC shareholders wanted more factories, they were welcome to them, said Pouyanné. As car manufacturers, they are not pursuing the same strategy as Saft. However, the CEO left open the question of whether Mercedes and Stellantis should then realise the other two battery plants outside ACC or whether TotalEnergies wants to hold back internally on the two projects.

ACC has been producing battery cells in Billy-Berclau and Douvrin for almost a year and a half, which are used in the first Stellantis models based on the STLA Medium, for example. One block is currently in operation, but there have been repeated reports of problems with the ramp-up. A second block (of five planned) will follow in 2025. In the media interview, Pouyanné stated that he had “clearly” pointed out to the then Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares in autumn 2024 that the production of battery cells was complicated and required a great deal of expertise. “These are not just robots that you use like in a car factory,” the manager is quoted as saying.

ACC officially put the plans for Kaiserslautern and Termoli on hold in the summer of 2024 to wait and see how demand develops in Europe and, if necessary, adjust the plans (for cell chemistry, for example) – the joint venture also repeated this statement when asked by FAZ. However, ACC has yet to say when a decision will be made. Only the rumour that battery cells for Mercedes luxury models are to be manufactured in Kaiserslautern is rejected as “unfounded.”

faz.net (in German)