Solid-state battery maker ProLogium shuns US for US$6 billion factory as Americans are still on the fence about EVs

One of the first factories for mass solid-state battery production - that of the Mercedes partner ProLogium - will be built in France instead of the US. That's a conscious management decision of the Taiwanese company, despite the generous subsidies per kwh produced in the US that the White House integrated in its green Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) legislation.

After the IRA's signing last August, the number of battery factory projects in the US ballooned by 67%, with most major automakers and battery manufacturers announcing plans to build in the US. That includes Tesla which will expand its Nevada, Fremont, and Texas 4680 battery making capacity, as well as build a lithium refinery on the Gulf Coast.

For Gilles Normand, president of ProLogium Europe, however, America is just not that much into electric cars as Europe is:

At the end of 2022, battery EVs in Europe made up about 12% of new car sales. In the US, that figure was half of that at 6%. Plus, around 50% of European customers project themselves as having an EV in the future, while in the US it is only 25%.

Tesla, together with its battery supplier Panasonic, are projected to lock in a windfall of more than US$40 billion in government subsidies over the course of the IRA's incentive program. Asked about the US government's largesse, Mr. Normand acknowledged that it is very tempting to build in the US right now, unless you are a startup that needs to front the factory money:

The IRA is very generous, and you can get much more incentives by amount than you can in Europe. But there is a fundamental difference [between the two]. The IRA kicks in once you start selling kilowatt hours. You have to shoulder the initial investment to build your gigafactory, start producing and start selling, which typically takes three to four years.

In Europe, however, ProLogium got a US$1.65 billion grant for as early as the R&D phase and this is money it can use right now.

Its solid-state battery breakthrough technologies include the first cell with 100% silicon oxide anode, as well as the so-called large-footprint lithium ceramic battery (LLCB) design. According to the Assistant VP of ProLogium, "for the same space as the mainstream 2170 EV battery pack, the LLCB pack’s volumetric energy density can be nearly doubled, and for the same total energy, the LLCB pack’s weight can be cut by up to 115 kg," two rather impressive figures that are apparently ripe enough for mass production.

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