But how much animation is recorded around the theme of car's battery performance, the soul ofelectric car. Automakers are pushing to reduce their reliance on Asia for batteries, while launching all-electric models to meet tougher emissions targets in the European Union. Beyond reduce charging times and to improve the energy density we will aim at reduce the amount of raw material necessary in the batteries to obtain the same autonomy. A very complex technological challenge, but around which true leadership on the four-wheeler market will be decided.
A Swedish company, la Northvolt, founded by two former collaborators of Tesla: the president Peter Carlson and Paolo Cerruti, an engineer from Turin, ex Renault, who lead a patrol of engineers, chemists and managers from about seventy countries. A start-up that today is already worth around 12 billion euros in capitalization, after the latest injection of funds in which Goldman Sachs and Volkswagen participated, among others, with a 20 per cent stake, which has already signed contracts for 14 billion euros for the construction of 6 gigafactories, capable of supporting supplies for the group's electric cars. But the Wolfsburg giant is not alone.
Last week the Swedish company signed an agreement with Volvo for the construction of a plant capable of equipping half a million cars starting from 2026. Volvo, the first house to have announced its intention to produce only electric cars from 2030, will obtain supplies from the Northvolt plant which will soon become operational one step away from the Arctic Circle in Skelletea, the northernmost city (32 inhabitants) of the country, the first in the Old Continent built by a company with a European majority.
“The most difficult challenge – confesses Carlson – is to convince people to come and work up there”. An extreme choice but which, Cerruti explained, stems from a strategic objective: the giga factory will run on hydroelectric power alone, without environmental impacts and will be able to take advantage of the proximity to metal processing centers as well as raw materials and the proximity of infrastructures. Not only. A plant dedicated exclusively to the recycling of materials will be built next to the Skelletea factory with the aim of reusing 50 percent of raw materials.
The other groups are also moving to gear up for the electric challenge. French President Emanuel Macron is expected to announce one this week partnership between Renault and the Chinese Envision concerning batteries: the two subjects will work together to build a large 43 Gigawatt production plant in Douai, the town on the border with Belgium where Renault intends to give birth to the electric car hub.
Last week it was announced a agreement between Porsche and Customcells, a German company specializing in lithium-ion cells that aims to make batteries with a higher energy density than the prototypes used in current electric cars. The project confirms that the electric theme is now central also for the luxury sector, after the announcements of Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Ferrari determined to recover, after the initial perplexity, the lost ground.
Ferrari from Maranello has promised its first fully electric car for 2025, but today it is already facing the problems of transitioning from a roaring engine to a quieter vehicle, a transition in which the expertise of the new CEO will prove invaluable Vigna, a veteran in chips applied to the automotive world, for 26 years in the ranks of Stm.
It will still take time to figure out if stellantis whether or not he will choose Italy to make the third battery plant, after those already decided for France and Germany. The government is pressing, in the right belief that it is a necessary step to support the future of the automotive supply chain. Meanwhile, another competitor is looming: for a Turinese like Cerruti who will produce batteries in the far northern Arctic there is a Swede, Peter Carlstrom, who intends to produce lithium Scarmagno, in the former Olivetti site. The plan, pending public and private funding, is going ahead. Maybe.
