Business · Energy & Commodities · 2 hrs ago
Battery factory rises as historic engine plant closes in northern France
In Douvrin, northern France, ACC is making batteries for electric cars at a large factory near a former Stellantis engine plant.
ACC made nearly 50,000 battery modules in 2025 and hopes to make 300,000 in 2026, after earlier production difficulties.
The company says higher output is needed to compete with China, which leads the battery market.
Nearby, Stellantis ended engine production after 57 years at its historic site, where more than 52 million engines had been made.
About two-thirds of the site’s employees found other work or retired early, while 340 were trained and reassigned to ACC.
The battery company is owned by Stellantis, TotalEnergies and Mercedes, and had received nearly €1.3 billion in public funding.
The transition has created new battery jobs but not replaced all the old ones, while ACC’s production target for 2026 remains ahead.
ACC’s battery factory in Douvrin, Pas-de-Calais, is presented as a major hope for Europe’s car industry as a nearby historic engine plant closes.
The factory employs 2,500 people and made nearly 50,000 battery modules in 2025.
ACC hopes to produce 300,000 modules in 2026 as it seeks to compete with China.
The former Française de Mécanique plant, later part of Stellantis, produced more than 52 million engines over 57 years before production ended in late October.
Only 340 Stellantis employees were trained and reassigned to ACC, while about two-thirds of the plant’s workers had to find other work or take early retirement.
- Who
- ACC and its workers, alongside employees affected by the closure of Stellantis’s former engine plant.
- What
- A battery factory is expanding production as a historic engine plant nearby closes.
- When
- The engine plant stopped production in late October. ACC made nearly 50,000 modules in 2025 and hopes to make 300,000 in 2026.
- Where
- Douvrin, Pas-de-Calais, northern France.
- Why
- ACC aims to catch up with China in battery production, while the engine plant closure reflects the industrial transition away from combustion engines.
ACC and supporters of the battery transition
Workers affected by the engine plant closure
Industrial transition
ACC and supporters of the battery transition
ACC says battery technology will be used in many fields and that Europe must play a role.
Workers affected by the engine plant closure
A former employee says the closure is upsetting after generations of local families worked at the plant.
Employment
ACC and supporters of the battery transition
ACC committed to support local employment, and 340 Stellantis workers were trained and reassigned there.
Workers affected by the engine plant closure
About two-thirds of the former plant’s employees had to find another job or take early retirement.
ACC was established and subsequently faced some production difficulties.
ACC produced nearly 50,000 battery modules.
Production stopped at the former Française de Mécanique engine plant, and its production lines were dismantled.
ACC hopes to produce 300,000 battery modules.
- ACC workforce
- 2,500 employees
- ACC site
- Nearly 34 hectares in Douvrin, Pas-de-Calais
- Battery output
- Nearly 50,000 modules in 2025
- 2026 target
- 300,000 modules
- Former engine plant
- More than 52 million engines produced over 57 years
- Public funding
- Nearly €1.3 billion received by ACC’s owners’ project
What people are saying
The technology of batteries will be used in many fields, not just for electric cars. Europe must play a role or it will miss the boat.
It revolts me, it makes me furious. From father to son, several generations, it was the company, so friends in the street, family, everyone worked there. In the last years, there were still 1,500 of us and today all of that is disappearing.
It is a totally different environment. We work in dry rooms. We had to get used to it, but frankly it is the future.