The EU has approved 2.9 billion euros in subsidies from 12 member states for the second pan-European project to develop the battery industry and get rid of dependence on Asian imports.
The European Union, which expects battery demand to grow rapidly in the next few years, said on Tuesday that the latest public funds are expected to release an additional 9 billion euros in private investment.
The committee stated that the project-involving Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden-will cover the entire production chain from beneficiation to design, battery manufacturing and recycling.
The project is called “European Battery Innovation” and will enable non-European companies such as Tesla to benefit from EU investment.
Tesla is headquartered in California and is building its first European factory in the Berlin area. Tesla predicts that starting from mid-2021, the new plant will produce 150,000 electric vehicles a year, and plans to increase this number to 500,000 a year.
