Mercedes-Benz to acquire stake in battery cell JV

2021-09-24 12:05:51 GMT2021-09-24 20:05:51(Beijing Time) Xinhua English

FRANKFURT, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- The German luxury carmaker Mercedez-Benz will acquire a stake in a battery company, aiming to scale up battery cell output in a bid to advance its electric transformation.

Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler, is to take over a 33-percent equity stake of Automotive Cells Company (ACC) and become an equal shareholder with Dutch automaker Stellantis and France's energy giant TotalEnergies, the company said in a statement on Friday.

ACC, founded in 2020, is a joint venture dedicated to the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles in Europe. Its factory in the French town of Nersac will start production at the end of this year.

Mercedes-Benz looks to accelerate the development of ACC and uplift its capacity to 120 gigawatt hours by the end of the decade.

"Mercedes-Benz pursues a very ambitious transformation plan and this investment marks a strategic milestone on our path to CO2 neutrality," said Ola Kaellenius, CEO of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG.

The move is pivotal for the German automaker, which is undergoing a transformation toward electrification. The carmaker announced in July that it would go fully electric by the end of the decade, which necessitates a total battery production capacity of more than 200 gigawatt hours.

It is not unusual for carmakers to enter into the battery cell production business since battery cells are the most important part of an electric car. Germany's biggest carmaker Volkswagen is poised to establish six gigafactories in Europe to ramp up battery cell production. Enditem

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