Europe announces the green revolution but is not ready
As in all revolutions there are losers and winners. The 2,200 companies belong to the first category e the 195,000 jobs which, according to the vice president of Confapi, Corrado Alberto are at risk in Italy due to the ban on petrol and diesel engines in 2035.
Among the winners are first and foremost the battery manufacturers. Demand will be very strong in Europe where the creation of large plants (so-called gigafactories) for the production of accumulators is foreseen. Only in Italy are three planned even if it is unlikely that all the programs will arrive in port.
The factories of the future
There is the Stellantis plan in Termoli which should employ three thousand people. Then Italvolt which however does not yet have a localization considering that patron Lars Carlstrom announced to Verità&Affari that the former Olivetti plants in Scarmagno are not suitable. Finally, the Volkswagen group which could invest in Emilia Romagna where there is the heart of its presence in Italy with Lamborghini and Ducati.
The highest question
The demand promises to be very high. Today more than 90% of batteries come from China, South Korea and Japan and it is almost certain that Europe will want to avoid the mistakes of the past, creating total dependence on Asian countries. First of all, the battery currently represents around 25-40% of the added value of a car, which risks being lost if it is not built at home.
Furthermore, a heavy dependence on other regions of the world is geopolitically risky, as recent developments in Russia and China have shown. The first gigafactories are already under construction, but they will not be enough because to equip all electric cars sold in Europe with “made in Euro” batteries by 2035, it would be necessary to produce about three times as many car batteries currently produced in the world.
Great attention will be paid to innovation: new generation batteries will have twice the energy density of current ones, will be safer, lighter and will last longer. “This means that, for the same weight of the battery, an electric car that today travels around 400 kilometers will have a range of around 800 kilometres”, comments an expert. Given the delay with which Europe has moved, it is not surprising that investment opportunities are currently very scarce. Almost nothing in Italy. There are three possibilities: Nhoa in Paris and Industrie De Nora in Milan.
Wow
It is a company specializing in energy storage and electric mobility listed on the Paris Stock Exchange. Consolidated revenues for the fourth quarter exceeded 165 million euros, “perfectly in line with the expectations of reaching more than 5 times the revenues of 2021”, commented Carlalberto Guglielminotti, CEO of the Group. For 2023, the Group expects revenues of between 220 and 280 million, and an operating margin of between 5 and 10 million euros. At the beginning of the year he acquired the business branch of Ressolar which owns a network of charging stations for electric vehicles in the provinces of Brescia, Bergamo and Milan.
Nora Industry
Together with Ges of Trento, he is developing a technology based on hydrogen. The goal is that of giving life to a new generation of non-toxic, safe accumulators which operate at room temperature and are made up of readily available materials. Gained access to 52 million EU funding for second-generation battery development.