Umicore to supply Mercedes and Stellantis battery plants

Umicore has signed an agreement to supply cathode materials to Automotive Cells Company (ACC) - the joint venture between Mercedes, Stellantis and energy giant TotalEnergies - for the production of electric car batteries. This was announced by the Belgian company on Wednesday.

The long-term agreement secures supplies for "ACC's future large-scale European battery plants". The joint venture is currently building giant plants in France and Germany and recently announced a third giant plant in Italy.

Under the agreement, Umicore will supply cathode materials for the cells of 13 gigawatt-hour car batteries annually for an undisclosed brand from 2024 onwards. By 2030, the annual supplied volumes are expected to reach 46 gigawatt-hours, "equivalent to powering at least 500,000 electric vehicles per year".

This is not the first agreement between Umicore and ACC. In February they already agreed on the recycling of batteries in the ACC pilot plant in Nersac, France.

In December Umicore also announced a far-reaching partnership with Volkswagen for battery materials. They set up a joint venture to produce chemical intermediates and cathode materials for the German car maker's battery cells in Europe. These are produced in Volkswagen's gigafactory in Salzgitter, Germany.

The Belgian-German joint venture could start production in 2025. The initial target is a capacity of 20 gigawatt hours per year. The aim is to increase production within ten years to an annual capacity of 160 gigawatt hours, which is equivalent to powering 2.2 million fully electric cars.

(TOM)

© BELGA PHOTO NICOLAS LAMBERT