Several years behind its Asian competitors, the development of Europe’s EV battery cell industry is at last gathering pace. Spurred by the EU’s Covid economic recovery stimulus spending and net-zero emission targets, a slew of gigafactory projects has been announced in the past 18 months. Pure battery players and automakers, both local and foreign, are in the fray, setting up a race for clients, market share and crucial raw materials.
Last year, EV sales in Europe rose despite Covid-19 and the automotive sector’s overall downturn because of policy weighted in favor of EVs, deemed “increasingly important to meet the [bloc’s emission] targets,” the International Energy Agency said in its Global EV Outlook 2021.
Under the EU’s commitment to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and the €1tn Green Deal put forward by the European Commission in July last year, the average emissions of new cars will be required to come down by 55% from 2030 and 100% from
