Renault partner Verkor chooses French port as site for gigafactory

PARIS -- French startup Verkor has selected the port of Dunkirk for a planned battery factory to supply Renault Group, the latest in a series of electric-vehicle industry projects to be announced in France. 

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2023, with the start of deliveries targeted two years later, Verkor said Tuesday. The site’s capacity will grow to 50 gigawatt-hours by 2030, from 16 gWh mid-decade.

The initial phase, which could supply enough packs for about 300,000 vehicles, may requires an investment of around 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion), Verkor’s co-founder Sylvain Paineau said in an interview.

The plant will be the third project of its kind planned in France as the nation and the European Union push for local battery production to rival Asian dominance of the sector. China’s Envision Group last year announced a 2 billion-euro project at a Renault factory in Douai, while Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies also have plans for a site in northern France.

“Verkor, like many players in the value chain, can rely on the government’s ongoing support,” French Industry Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said in the statement. 

Verkor and Renault agreed on a supply deal last year for high-performance packs for larger and premium vehicles, marking a turning point for the startup that has expanded rapidly in recent months but still only has 85 employees. Verkor said the new plant’s first phase will create as many as 1,200 direct jobs. 

Renault said last week that it would build high-performance Alpine electric vehicles at its factory in Dieppe, which is about 200 km (125 miles) from Dunkirk. The Dieppe site is also about 110 km from the automaker’s main EV factory in Douai, France.

Verkor studied 40 potential locations in France, Italy and Spain before choosing Dunkirk, a turnkey site that offers additional land for expansion, Paineau said. 

Renault owns around 20 percent of Verkor. The startup is also backed by companies including EIT InnoEnergy, Groupe IDEC, Schneider Electric and Capgemini.