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Europe has launched a plan worth several tens of billions of euros in the design and manufacture of car batteries

As part of its Horizon 2020 global competitiveness programme, which had a total budget of

80 billion from 2014 to 2020, Europe has added half a billion euros.

Last December, the European Commission approved €3.2 billion in public funding under its rules for "major projects of common European interest" (IPCEI). The investment will support battery research and innovation in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden.

The project is expected to run until 2031 and is expected to unlock an additional €5bn of private investment. The French oil company Total and the German car manufacturer Opel will receive €1.3 billion of public funding under IPCEI conditions for a major manufacturing programme. It could see up to 48 gigawatt hours of added capacity at sites in France and Germany.

Ultimately, it is impossible to calculate how much money is being swallowed up in this battery programme, according to the head of communications and events at the European Energy Storage Association. For his part, Bloomberg said last July that total investment in the battery supply chain by European governments, manufacturers, development banks and commercial lenders could exceed 100 billion euros.

The amount invested in the US is considerably less. The 2020 budget has earmarked $158 million for an advanced energy storage initiative within the Department of Energy (DOE). In addition, there are some 40 million dollars for various missions.

The Americans are questioning the relevance of this massive programme, while the Asians have several decades of research and also of battery manufacturing. They are investing in huge factories in Europe (CATL inaugurated a 14 GWh factory in Thuringia-Germany in October; LG Chem is building a 35 GWh factory).

Europe wants to cover the entire value chain, from raw materials to advanced manufacturing, applications and recycling. One initiative even aims to innovate the innovation process itself. The idea is to create a software tool that mimics cellular behaviour and can be used instead of physical experiments.

Wood Mackenzie does not believe in this European policy because Asian manufacturers already have resources linked to battery sales, which makes it easier for them to invest in R&D. Developing the next generation of products will take about ten years. Then it will take another twenty years to reach the market.

GreenTech Media of 15 April

Editor's note If the figure of 80 billion euros is indeed correct, what has been achieved? To the reluctance of industrialists to create battery production units apart from Total and PSA-Opel, and Northvolt.

Politicians are in the midst of demagoguery, as are the people of Europe. They believe that with money you can do anything. They dream of having a battery industry. They haven't seen that the slightest Chinese frown makes them abandon their opinion. This incites industrialists not to launch out if they are not supported by political decisions. As for the ageing European population, apart from France, it is not looking for adventure or success, but to live as well as possible. There is no longer any flame, energy or ambition!

Realism is no longer the dominant character of the population. Facts are neglected. Programmes designed by civil servants no longer make sense or have a perception of reality (e.g. the lack of preparedness for the epidemic; or the joke of the masked affair). Without benchmarks, projects are launched in spite of common sense. The battery project will have swallowed up a fortune because the foundations for success will not have been laid.