Stellantis, Mercedes battery cell JV to build plant in Italy

ROME, March 23 (Reuters) – Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a joint venture between Stellantis (STLA.MI), Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE) and TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), plans to build a battery plant in Italy, the latest move to boost capacity to meet demand for electric vehicles.

ACC will convert an existing Stellantis plant in Termoli, in southern Italy, into a battery facility as agreed in a March 21 memorandum of understanding with Italian authorities.

It has not provided details on the investment, but said on Wednesday the goal was to produce batteries for more than 2.5 million vehicles per year by 2030.

The battery plant would be the third in Europe for Stellantis, after ones already announced in France and Germany, which are also being built through ACC.

The news comes a day after Tesla (TSLA.O) launched its German factory, its first European hub, and as the car industry struggles with chip shortages and other supply chain disruptions. read more

Rome pledged last month to provide 369 million euros ($407 million) of public money for Termoli and Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said the investment for the new site could be similar in size to those planned for the gigafactories in France and Germany, where the investment is seen at around 2 billion euros.

ACC said the three partners had committed to increase its industrial capacity to at least 120 gigawatt hours (GWh) by 2030 and scale up the development and production of next-generation high-performance battery cells and modules.

The updated capacity plan will involve an investment of more than 7 billion euros, ACC said in the statement.

The production capacity of the French and German plants will each be increased to 40 GWh from the 24 GWh initially planned.

Tesla’s Berlin plant is aiming for an eventual capacity of 50 GWh.

($1 = 0.9071 euros)

Reporting by Giulia Segreti Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter

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