06/22/2022
In 2020, Stellantis and TotalEnergies (through its affiliate Saft) created Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a joint venture aimed at becoming a European champion for designing and producing electric vehicle batteries. In 2021, they were joined by Mercedes-Benz. Find out more about ACC’s ambition and activities.
ACC, a key stakeholder in electric transportation in Europe
For TotalEnergies and its partners, providing support for mobility as Europe makes its energy transition also means securing the supply of an essential component for the automotive industry and for the increase of electric vehicles on the continent. Since 2020, ACC has applied its expertise to designing, producing and marketing reliable, high-performance and competitive batteries on a large scale. The goal: to produce enough batteries to equip more than 2.5 million vehicles a year by 2030, in compliance with the highest quality and environmental protection standards.
Three shareholder, one innovation hub
By combining the strengths of TotalEnergies, with its extensive technological expertise in developing batteries, and Stellantis, which provides knowledge of the automotive market and mass production, with Mercedes-Benz’s know-how in research and development, ACC takes innovation to the next level to develop and produce cells and modules for cutting-edge batteries.
A fast-track roadmap
The first stage of this project consisted of building a research and development center in Bruges, near Bordeaux (France), and a center of industrial excellence, a true pilot plant, on land at the Saft factory in Nersac, near Angoulême (France). The R&D centre, which opened in October 2021, is already operational and has shipped the first prototypes of battery cells and modules. The pilot factory in Nersac, which has just started production, will now develop, test and deliver the prototype batteries as well as all the consortium’s product and process innovations before industrial roll-out. Two factories for mass production, known as “gigafactories”, are also scheduled to open in 2023. Lastly, the construction of a third gigafactory in Termoli, Italy, has just been announced, completing a Europe-wide project.