On 15 July, the Cleantech Friendship Group hosted a breakfast event on the topic of battery cell manufacturing. MEPs Lídia Pereira, Thomas Pellerin-Carlin, Nicolás González Casares, Matthias Ecke, Bruno Tobback and Giorgio Gori were joined by Benoit Lemaignan, Co-Founder and CEO of Verkor, Yann Vincent, CEO of Automotive Cells Company, and Javier Rivera Jornet, CFO PowerCo Spain, for an insightful discussion on how to drive this clean industry’s competitiveness in Europe.
Some key takeaways from the discussion are:
- Gigafactory development is underway: despite inevitable challenges in cost and complexity, Europe is building industrial capacity in battery cell manufacturing. Accelerating approvals and reducing uncertainty will help innovative frontrunners scale faster.
- Bridging the competitiveness gap with China: Europe’s clean energy, skilled workforce, and innovation base are strong foundations. Transitional production support – similar to the Inflation Reduction Act in the US – can ensure European battery projects scale and compete globally.
- Securing demand for European batteries: clear long-term signals, such as the 2035 ICE phase-out, combined with targeted production incentives (for example, per kWh support) will strengthen market confidence and keep investments in Europe.
- Strategic trade measures: ensuring reciprocity on environmental and labour standards, alongside balanced tariffs, will protect Europe’s climate goals and industrial resilience.
- Strengthening raw material security: diversifying supply through strategic partnerships and refining capacity within Europe is critical for a robust battery value chain.
- Innovation as Europe’s edge: from LFP to solid-state, European IP can lead the next generation of battery technologies – but only with a strong manufacturing base today.
The way forward for Europe is clear: combine production support, demand certainty and strategic trade measures to build a competitive and resilient local battery industry. This will give Europe the chance to deliver on climate targets while creating high-quality jobs and strengthening the continent’s competitiveness.
