At present, the transport sector is the largest contributor to the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. However, little progress has been made in reducing emissions over the past three decades. As a measure, the UK government has cited the move to green vehicles and car ownership is expected to increase 28% from 34 million cars today to 43.6 million in 2050.
Similarly, a French industrial company Verkor based in Grenoble is preparing to increase battery cell production in Europe. By building a competitive and sustainable European battery value chain, the transition to electric vehicles on the road is to be massively accelerated.
The company has now announced that it has secured € 100 million (nearly £ 85.5 million in funding) under the joint management of EQT Ventures and the Renault Group, with the participation of the French government and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region ) has backed up. EIT InnoEnergy, Groupe IDEC, Schneider Electric, Capgemini, Arkema, Tokai COBEX and the Fund for Ecologic Modernization of Transport (FMET) managed by Demeter also took part in this round.
Construction of the VIC in Grenoble
The investment will be used to support Verkor’s expansion and accelerate the construction of the VIC (Verkor Innovation Center). This center is where the advanced battery cells and modules are developed to support Europe’s net zero goals.
All partners share the vision of building a competitive, sustainable and local value chain for battery cells in Europe. Verkor will achieve this with a battery cell production capacity of 16 GWh in 2024 and scale it to +50 GWh by 2030. The VIC, which is based in Grenoble and will be operational in 2022, is an important milestone in realizing this vision.
It will host a pilot line for the manufacture of battery cells, a research and development center, test facilities, module prototyping and training for a new generation of engineers and technicians.
Speaking at a signing ceremony in Paris today, BenoitLemaignan, Verkor CEO said: “We are honored to have such high quality shareholders on board. I would like to thank our team for what we have achieved together in less than a year of our existence. Our new shareholder structure fully reflects our ambitions: an end-to-end approach to battery manufacturing, in which each of us focuses on what we do best and at the same time crosses our know-how. “
Gregory Bernstein, investor at EQT Ventures: “The global energy transition to net zero requires innovation, implementation and bold visions. This is exactly what we are looking for in the teams in which we want to invest, and why we at EQT Venturesare. We look forward to working with our other partners to support the Verkor team on their way to leading the way in Europe.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher, French Industry Minister: “I welcome this new partnership, which is another building block in the industrial and technological ecosystem for batteries in France and Europe. As the automotive industry faces unprecedented challenges, the investments we make today will become tomorrow’s jobs. We support Verkor’s growth through CORAM, the French automotive and mobility research orientation committee funded by the French future investment program PIA. Our goal is to accelerate the development of innovative digital processes for battery cell production that will be implemented in the future Gigafactory. “
Also present at the ceremony was Maroš Šefčovič, Vice President of the EU Commission for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight: “This partnership is further proof that the European Battery Alliance is really making a difference on the ground. In three years Europe has become a global hotspot for battery investment, showing that we can achieve open strategic autonomy in this important industrial sector. All of this would not have been possible without the commitment and cooperation of all stakeholders, including our industry and our Member States – with France clearly one of our leading forces thanks to its strong commitment to sustainable mobility. “
Partnership with Renault
Founded by Christophe Mille, Benoit Lemaignan, Sylvain Paineau, Philippe Chain, Gilles Moreau and Olivier Dufour in 2020, Verkor will ramp up production of low carbon batteries in France and Southern Europe to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles and electric mobility as whole and stationary storage in Europe .
In particular, Verkor signed a partnership with the Renault Group last week under which it will supply an initial capacity of at least 10 GWh per year for the C and higher segments of the Renault range, as well as for the Alpine models.
