EU can be Self Sufficient in EV Battery Cells by 2025: VP Šefčovič

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Maroš Šefčovič, VP of the European Commission has claimed that he expects that by 2025, the EU will be able to produce enough battery cells to meet the needs of the European automotive industry

Europe now a global hotspot for #battery investment, showing we can achieve open strategic autonomy.

In large part thanks to the #EUBatteryAlliance. Collaboration pays off!

Opening @EU2020DE 🔋Conference with @peteraltmaier @BrunoLeMaire @elonmusk 🖊 https://t.co/rUAsQXUL8v pic.twitter.com/HTejvlpsr5

— Maroš Šefčovič🇪🇺 (@MarosSefcovic) November 24, 2020

Maroš Šefčovič, Vice President of the European Commission recently addressed the European Conference on Batteries. At the event, Šefčovič claimed that he expects that by 2025, the EU will be able to produce enough battery cells to meet the needs of the European automotive industry and to further build its export capacity.

The VP said that when the EU founded the European Battery Alliance in 2017, many people struggled to believe Europe could develop a globally-competitive battery industry, one which could rival and even outshine those in other parts of the world. “The last three years, however, have shown us that it is not only possible, but fast becoming reality. We still have a long way to go. But I am convinced we can achieve our goal of strategic autonomy in this critical industrial sector.”

He further went on to say that “I’ll make a clear prediction: I am confident that by 2025, the EU will be able to produce enough battery cells to meet the needs of the European automotive industry – and even to build our export capacity. 

“I am aware that this is a big ask. If we do manage to achieve this, it will in large part be thanks to the Battery Alliance; a truly collaborative effort requiring the full commitment of all involved.”

The Alliance was created to build a globally competitive, innovative and sustainable European battery value chain, amounting to an expected market value of 250 billion Euro by 2025. With more than 500 industrial actors, the Alliance has become a resounding success in just three years, turning Europe into a global battery hotspot.

In 2019, the Alliance attracted some 60 billion euros in investment across the entire value chain, with 25 billion so far in 2020; three times and twice the amount in China respectively.

According to Šefčovič, the following measures will be taken under the alliance now:

• focus on finalising the ambitious upcoming second Important Project of Common European Interest
• put forward a new future-proof regulatory framework on batteries
• strengthen the resilience of the critical materials value chains
• and ensure adequate levels of research funding.

He then went on to say that Europe needs to reduce emissions in the transport sector by 90 percent if it is to meet its 2050 climate goals. But simply replacing internal combustion vehicles with electric equivalents will not do the trick, since EVs still cause emissions: in the production phase and through the generation of electricity to power them.

“The production of batteries alone accounts for nearly half of these emissions; steel manufacturing is another significant culprit. So we will foster projects in Europe geared towards developing green batteries and cost-competitive green steel. Our upcoming flagship strategy on sustainable and smart mobility will represent another crucial step towards zero and low emission transport.”

He also stated that some 15 new battery cell plants – gigafactories – are being built across Europe, including in Italy, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden. These plants will provide by 2025 enough cells to power at least 6 million electric vehicles.