Mercedes and Stellantis pause European EV battery plans, look to LFP

Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis are pausing work on two EV battery crops and could also be trying to LFP battery cells to decrease prices, studies Bloomberg.

Automotive Cells Firm (ACC), a battery provider for the 2 automakers with plans to open three new battery crops in Europe at a price of seven.6 billion euros (roughly $8.2 billion at present trade charges), has stopped development at a website in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and paused prep work at a website in Termoli, Italy, in keeping with the report.

Demand for EVs in Europe has slowed, with progress solely anticipated in mass-market segments, ACC CEO Yann Vincent stated in an interview on the sidelines of a latest Bloomberg New Vitality Finance convention. Mercedes and Stellantis are actually requesting lower-cost batteries for entry-level EVs, Vincent instructed Bloomberg.

2024 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV

This has led ACC to rethink its plans. One possibility is to fabricate LFP battery cells in Kaiserslautern, Vincent stated, including {that a} last determination is due later this yr or in early 2025, with cell manufacturing beginning as much as 2.5 years after that. ACC put out a separate assertion June 4 saying it had “reopened discussions on plans” for the Termoli manufacturing unit, Bloomberg famous.

Mercedes and Stellantis aren’t the one automakers cooling on new European battery factories. Volkswagen stated final month that its European battery factories could take longer to succeed in full capability, whereas each VW and Renault have moved away from plans to promote shares in EV or battery companies, Bloomberg famous.

Gross sales of battery electrical fashions overtook gross sales of diesels in 2022, signaling a sea change for the Continent, the place diesel was once an institution. And upcoming fashions just like the Renault 5 E-Tech have generated numerous buzz in Europe.

2025 Renault 5 E-Tech

The EV affordability image for Europe actually seems to be higher than that of the U.S. EV costs have skewed decrease this yr, however there is a dearth of affordable EVs.

Like Mercedes and Stellantis, Ford goals to fill the affordability hole with EVs powered by LFP batteries, which it plans to make within the U.S. However the reasonably priced EV that is generated probably the most curiosity not too long ago—exterior the returning Chevrolet Bolt EV of which there are few particulars—is the 2024 Chevy Equinox EV, which can have a base model priced at $35,000 with vacation spot.