AESC receives 48 million euros grant for cell factory in France

The Japanese battery cell manufacturer AESC has received important news for the construction of its factory near the Renault plant in Douai in northern France: The EU Commission has approved a grant of 48 million euros from the French government.

Following the approval under EU State aid rules, the EU Commission has now decided that the funding is legitimate, as the measure is intended to contribute to the realisation of the EU’s strategic objectives in terms of job creation, regional development and the environmentally friendly conversion of the regional economy.

The aid, which is granted in the form of a direct subsidy, amounts to 48 million euros. The project will create around 1,000 direct and other indirect jobs. About the project itself: AESC plans to build lithium-ion cells and battery modules for Renault in the new battery cell factory from March 2025 and is targeting an annual capacity of 9 GWh at the start. By 2030, the capacity is expected to grow to 24 to 30 GWh.

The battery cells will initially be used for the all-electric Renault R5. The battery factory in Douai is part of the Renault ElectriCity eMobility industrial cluster announced in 2021. The electric car activities of the Renault plants in Douai, Maubeuge and Ruitz in northern France will be bundled under this umbrella company. From 2025, 400,000 vehicles per year are to be built there. Renault intends to source NMC cells with a more affordable cell chemistry for volume vehicles from the battery factory in Douai. The performance cells will continue to be supplied by long-standing battery partner LG Energy Solution.

According to earlier information, a total of 1.3 billion euros is to be invested in the AESC site. In 2023, the European Investment Bank (EIB) granted loans totalling 450 million euros for the project. AESC is headquartered in Japan and was founded in 2007 as a joint venture between three Japanese companies. As the focus of the Automotive Energy Supply Company (AESC) was on electric vehicles from the outset, Nissan was the largest shareholder with a 51 per cent stake. In 2018, however, the Chinese company Envision acquired a majority stake in AESC.

ec.europa.eu

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