Morocco signs Chinese deal to build EV battery factory

Alamy via Reuters

• Gotion plans Kenitra factory
• 17,000 jobs to be created
• Morocco targets EV production

China has announced a second large-scale investment in Morocco’s electric vehicle sector with plans for an EV battery factory to take advantage of access to the European market and a burgeoning automotive sector.

A $1.3 billion deal has been signed between the Moroccan government and the Chinese-European group Gotion High Tech to build a gigafactory for the manufacture of EV batteries.

The facility will be constructed in Kenitra, in the north-west of the country.

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Phase one of the project is expected to have an initial capacity of 20 gigawatts per hour, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

The factory will also create 17,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs, including 2,300 high-skilled jobs, said minister delegate for investment Mohcine Jazouli.

Upon completion, capacity will hit 100GW/h following a global investment of $6.6 billion, he added.

The plant is scheduled to begin operations in June 2026.

Morocco is central to the global transition to EVs. It is home to many of the minerals critical for the manufacturing of batteries, including cobalt and manganese. It also sits on almost three-quarters of the world’s phosphate rock reserves.

CNGR Advanced Material, a Chinese manufacturer of battery components, announced in September last year that it would join forces with Al Mada, a conglomerate owned by the Moroccan royal family, to invest MAD20 billion ($2 billion) in the construction of a cathode materials plant.

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China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt and South Korean chemical maker LG Chem have previously revealed plans to build a lithium refinery and cathode materials plant in Morocco.

In June 2022 Renault announced an agreement with Moroccan mining company Managem to obtain 5,000 tonnes of low-carbon cobalt sulfate annually, starting from 2025.

Later that year Stellantis announced plans to invest more than €300 million ($324 million) to double production capacity at its Kenitra manufacturing facility.