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Europe’s EV battery plans fade on China’s price war, US subsidies
China already has excess battery-making capacity, can make cells at a fraction of the cost it takes in Europe, and has a head start on the next generation of cell technology.
China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world’s biggest cell maker has a site in Germany and is adding another in Hungary, while South Korea’s LG Chem has been making batteries in Poland for about six years. The stakes are high: if the region fails to establish its own EV battery value-chain as cells replace the combustion engine, large parts of the automotive industry – which makes up about 7 per cent of Europe’s economy – will follow solar panels, consumer electronics and chips in shifting to Asia. So far, the bulk of Europe’s investments have been directed more toward cell manufacturing than the mining and refining industries higher up the value chain, said Ilka von Dalwigk, senior technology and policy expert at EIT InnoEnergy, a venture capital firm co-funded by the EU.
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