Car battery production

The Port of Dunkirk in France is to house Verkor’s first Gigafactory dedicated to the development of low-carbon automotive battery cells.

“The announcement of the setting-up of Verkor in the Port of Dunkirk is a major event for the entire area surrounding Dunkirk and the Hauts-de-France region as a whole,” said Maurice Georges, CEO of Port of Dunkirk.

“The arrival of the company will help create an “Electric Battery Valley” in the region, in line with the associated logistics, maritime, rail and river sectors.”

Green industry

Covering an area of more than 150 hectares, the site chosen for the set-up the Gigafactory will meet the growing demand from European and international car manufacturers, and the acceleration in the deployment of high-performance electric vehicles on the European continent.

The factory will be located in the ZGI zone (Zone Grandes Industries) of Dunkirk-Port, approved as a “Choose France turnkey site” in January 2020, following a visit by Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic.

Up to 1,200 direct jobs and more than 3,000 indirect jobs could be created during the first phase of the project.

Verkor said that its new Gigafactory in Dunkirk will create a new ecosystem of stakeholders and solutions to support the development of the battery value chain in Europe.

Once production has started, the Gigafactory will supply several customers, including Renault Group, following the signing of a strategic partnership with Verkor last summer.

The first delivery of low-carbon, high-performance batteries for electric vehicles is scheduled for July 2025. Production capacity is set to increase from 16 GWh in 2025 to 50 GWh in 2030.