{"id":22243,"date":"2025-09-04T11:05:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T09:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/verkor.com\/?p=22243"},"modified":"2026-01-29T16:48:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:48:23","slug":"who-will-make-our-batteries-europes-moment-of-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verkor.com\/en\/who-will-make-our-batteries-europes-moment-of-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"Who will make our batteries? Europe&#8217;s moment of truth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/verkor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Tribune_Verkor_Powerco_Acc-300x169.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"730\" height=\"411\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-22244\" srcset=\"https:\/\/verkor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Tribune_Verkor_Powerco_Acc-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/verkor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Tribune_Verkor_Powerco_Acc-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/verkor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Tribune_Verkor_Powerco_Acc-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/verkor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Tribune_Verkor_Powerco_Acc-2048x1152.png 2048w, https:\/\/verkor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Tribune_Verkor_Powerco_Acc-300x169@2x.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 730px) 100vw, 730px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The CEOs of Europe\u2019s Battery Own Cell Manufacturers take position jointly<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Frank Blome, CEO, PowerCo | Benoit Lemaignan, CEO, Verkor | Yann Vincent, CEO, ACC<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Dunkirk &amp; Munich, 4th of September 2025<\/strong> \u2013 Amid global tensions and economic shifts, the President of the European Commission once again convenes stakeholders to discuss the future of the European automotive industry on September 12. As CEOs of battery cell manufacturers with operations in France, Germany, and Spain, we are committed to contributing by <strong>building a resilient, competitive, and sustainable European battery ecosystem. But without immediate, targeted support for local production, Europe risks losing its strategic autonomy in a critical 21st-century technology.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5>A Strategic Industry Under Threat<\/h5>\n<p>Batteries are <strong>central to Europe\u2019s automotive sector<\/strong> and its <strong>transition to zero-emissions transport<\/strong>. They also underpin <strong>European security<\/strong>. Today, 99 percent of batteries globally are made by non-European companies, leaving Europe\u2019s \u20ac800 billion automotive industry\u2014employing over 13 million people\u2014dependent on Asia. And while the US and China offer substantial subsidies for local production, European manufacturers, still scaling up, risk being outcompeted before reaching maturity.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5>The Cost of Inaction<\/h5>\n<p>Failure to act can have<strong> severe consequences<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Investment losses across the European value chain.<\/li>\n<li>Loss of a \u20ac250 billion annual market to Asian imports.<\/li>\n<li>Loss of ground regarding innovation and know-how.<\/li>\n<li>Strategic vulnerability in the automotive sector.<\/li>\n<li>Dependence on non-European suppliers for critical technologies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>This is not just industrial\u2014it\u2019s geopolitical.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5>A Time-Limited Opportunity<\/h5>\n<p>The European Commission recognised this urgency in March 2025, proposing direct <strong>production<\/strong> support. Beyond what will be permitted on national level through the new state aid framework, <strong>the European Battery Alliance recommends a support scheme through EU funds<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u20ac1 billion for ramp-up support (already partially allocated).<\/li>\n<li>\u20ac1.8 billion for the first three years of production, tied to output (already earmarked).<\/li>\n<li>Additional EU funds from 2028\u20132030 to ensure long-term competitiveness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is not a handout but a bridge to performance, enabling 90 GWh of EU-made batteries by 2027\u2014enough for 1.2 million electric vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5>Highly Effective Support, Decreasing Over Time<\/h5>\n<p>We are working hard to <strong>attract talents, build technology know-how, and live up to our ambition of contributing to Europe\u2019s global competitiveness and resilience.<\/strong> Now is the time for<strong> direct production<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>support, tied to output and decreasing over time.<\/strong> Public funds will be only disbursed upon delivery to customer, creating a built-in safeguard that rewards performance, not promises.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Support should be accompanied by protection.<\/strong> Tying electric vehicle subsidies to a gradually phased-in share of European content would create a dual lever\u2014stimulating consumer demand while strengthening European supply chains.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>We urge European policy-makers to work together: Act pragmatically, cut red tape, and mobilize funds. The cost of inaction far outweighs the cost of support.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; The CEOs of Europe\u2019s Battery Own Cell Manufacturers take position jointly Frank Blome, CEO, PowerCo | Benoit Lemaignan, CEO, Verkor | Yann Vincent, CEO, ACC Dunkirk &amp; Munich, 4th of September 2025 \u2013 Amid global tensions and economic shifts, the President of the European Commission once again convenes stakeholders to discuss the future of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/verkor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/verkor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/verkor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verkor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verkor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/verkor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/verkor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verkor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verkor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}