Automotive News Europe — 2024-12-04
Automotive Industry
EV battery makers relying on Chinese components risk being cut out of €1 bn in European Union subsidies as the bloc aims to boost its own production and supply chains.
Inviting bids for grants for EV batteries, the European Commission said it will favor projects that source less of their cathodes, anodes and active materials from China. It will also require a transfer of know-how: new patents originating from the awarded projects will have to be registered in EU member states.
In two other initiatives announced on 3 December 2024 to finance net-zero technologies and hydrogen projects, the EU also included criteria that would benefit domestic producers.
The move is in line with a broader political priority to keep manufacturing within Europe as the region undergoes an unprecedented economic overhaul to curb greenhouse gases by 2050.
“All three calls include new resilience criteria to boost European industry,” said Teresa Ribera, the commission’s new executive vice president in charge of the clean transition. “The batteries call and hydrogen bank auction will also include specific resilience criteria to protect Europe against dependency on a single supplier.”
EU push for hydrogen production
In a €1.2 bn auction aimed at spurring the production of hydrogen, the winning projects will have to limit the sourcing of electrolyzer stacks from China to not more than 25% of total capacity, in line with guidelines published earlier this year.
Under a €2.4 bn call to finance net-zero technologies, the selection criteria include an assessment whether a project can cut the sourcing of critical raw materials or components from countries on which the EU depends.
The bloc relies on China for technologies including solar panels and their parts.