France opens mega-electric battery factory in North

Three French ministers, two German and Italian ministers, the bosses of Total, Stellantis and Mercedes are present at the inauguration with great fanfare Tuesday, May 30 of a "gigafactory", a factory of electric batteries in Douvrin, near Lens, in the north of the France. The French government wants to see it as a symbol of the country's re-industrialization and regained European sovereignty.

The entrance to the mega-factory of the Compagnie de cellules automotives (ACC), a cooperation between Stellantis, TotalÉnergies and Mercedes, in Billy-Berclau-Douvrin (Nord), on May 30, 2023. © Pascal Rossignol / Reuters

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The plant must contribute to equipping the two million electric vehicles that the government wants to produce in the territory with batteries made in France by 2030.

While the European Union has decided to end the sale of gasoline vehicles by 2035, the French Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire already said in November 2021, that it was necessary to adapt, and set the objective: "There will be companies and factories that will have to close because there will be fewer orders, because they belong to the world of the thermal vehicle. But we want to more than compensate for this by opening new plants: a gigafactory of electric batteries in Douvrin, in the north, more than1,000 jobs for PSA, "he said in an interview with Sud Radio.

Except that the Stellantis group, resulting from the merger between PSA and Fiat-Chrysler, already supports 1,200 people in Douvrin, in a plant producing combustion engines whose production lines will gradually close within two years.

On paper, some employees will literally only have to "cross the street" to find a job. This on paper, because the gigafactory will not be a mega employer, or at least not immediately: in the long term, it is certainly a question of 1,400 to 2,000 direct jobs, but the Stellantis group has made a firm commitment to redeployment of only 400 employees.

The CGT, which refused last year to sign the agreement negotiated by the management, called this Tuesday morning for a mobilization in front of the site.

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