Morocco is in talks with several electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturers to set up a mega factory in the country.
Morocco will open the first mega-factory for electric vehicle batteries. According to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Ryad Mezzour. It’s unclear how much will be involved in the ambitious plans or how big the factory site will be, but the minister spoke of a “mega factory”, a term used for very large production units.
“We hope to sign an agreement for the factory before the end of this year,” Mezzour told Archyde.com, without revealing the names of the companies involved.
The demand for electric vehicle batteries is increasing worldwide and more car manufacturers are finding their way to Morocco. The planned electric vehicle battery plant will give Morocco’s automotive sector “a huge boost” while benefiting from the availability of renewable energy and raw materials such as cobalt and phosphates, which the country is rich in.
Morocco has the tenth largest cobalt reserves in the world and produces 1,900 tonnes of cobalt per year, but has ambitions to significantly increase its production in the coming years.
French automaker Groupe Renault recently signed a mega-deal with Moroccan commodity company Managem for the purchase of cobalt sulfate. German automaker BMW has already signed an agreement with Morocco in 2020.
Renault and the multinational Stellantis already have a strong presence in Morocco and have a combined production capacity of 700,000 vehicles. According to the Minister of Trade, Morocco aims to increase this capacity to one million units over the next four years. Automaker Citroën plans to double its production capacity to 50,000 mini electric vehicles within two years, Ryad said.
The turnover of the Moroccan automotive industry reached 4.13 billion dollars in May, an increase of 24%. The first and second best-selling cars in Europe, the Dacia Sandero and the Peugeot 208, are produced in Morocco.