After the collapse of Europe’s great hope Northvolt, the continent’s batteries are still reliant on materials from Chinese imports.
With an unwavering pledge to ban new petrol or diesel vehicles by 2035, the European Union’s net-zero future is wed to electric cars and to the all-important batteries that power them.
But the EU’s parallel goal to be able to produce those batteries itself, and to avoid dependence on China, is in jeopardy, according to some analysts.
Europe is mainly dependent on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its batteries, from materials to production.
“Batteries are essential to most of what we do in modern daily life,” Responsible Battery Coalition Executive Director Steve Christensen told The Epoch Times.
“So to allow a foreign economic adversary that uses a non-market economy to compete with us, it’s a bit insane.”
Europe Needs to Be ‘Realistic’
Last month, French miner Eramet, which produces metals used in battery production, and the chief executive of Umicore, a specialist in the production and recycling of battery materials, told the Financial Times that a push to develop an entirely autonomous European industry would not work.
Christel Bories, who was Eramet’s chief executive until recently, said that Europe needed to be “realistic” because China had spent two decades perfecting its battery technology and was now a “huge” step ahead.
Bart Sap, chief executive of the Belgian-French company Umicore, said: “We have to embrace China to help produce with us in Europe. Otherwise, we are risking mobility dependence.”
The EU had tried to break reliance on China and had pinned hopes on battery manufacturer Northvolt to light the way.
Founded by former Tesla executives, Northvolt aimed to be a European-owned gigafactory, producing lithium-ion cells at scale and to capture 25 percent of Europe’s battery market by 2030.
Lithium-ion batteries, used in a huge range of electronic devices, from smartphones to laptops, are also the dominant power source for electric vehicles (EVs) due to their high energy density, lightweight design, and ability to be recharged.
However, the capital-intensive process of assembling them proved too complex in Europe.
On March 12, Northvolt announced that, after an “exhaustive effort to explore all available means to secure a viable financial and operational future,” it had filed for bankruptcy in Sweden.
This followed an earlier Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Northvolt’s U.S. subsidiary in California, citing mounting losses and persistent production issues.
By Owen Evans
