Battery shortage: Stellantis suspends electric vehicle production in France
Stellantis is suspending production at its French plants in Sochaux, Rennes, and Mulhouse for at least a week each. In two cases, it is due to shortages in the supply of electric vehicle batteries, as supplier ACC struggles to meet demand for its nickel-based long-range batteries.
Image: ACC
According to Reuters, the plants in Sochaux and Rennes have temporarily halted production due to a shortage of ACC batteries. The news agency cites an official company statement for this information. However, the suspension is only indirectly related to the lack of these large batteries. Stellantis primarily does not want to produce too many other vehicles “to avoid building up inventory that does not match customer demand,” the company explains. After all, it is the electric long-range models that are in high demand, and customers currently have to wait very long for them.
The plant in Sochaux, in eastern France, where models such as the Peugeot 3008 and Peugeot 5008 are produced, is set to shut down specifically from October 23rd to 30th. The factory in Rennes will close from October 22nd to 30th as well; it manufactures items including the Citroën C5 Aircross. The production halt also announced in Mulhouse from October 15th to 30th is said to have other reasons unrelated to battery shortages.
It is clear, however, that ACC’s supply remains a major bottleneck for Stellantis’ production. This battery specialist is a joint venture between Stellantis, Mercedes, and TotalEnergies, which originally planned to build three factories in France, Germany, and Italy but is now focusing only on getting its single cell factory in Douvrin, France, up and running. The other two large-scale projects have been canceled.
As Bloomberg reported in February, citing internal sources, things are not going smoothly at Douvrin either. ACC was able to equip only about 1,000 cars per month with long-range batteries at the beginning of the year, which is far below the original target. In response, the joint venture reportedly brought in a team of experts from China to boost production and reduce high defect rates. The main victim of this slow scaling is Stellantis, as the battery cell manufacturer’s key customer.
In February, ACC also admitted to fundamental problems: “Getting things up and running is difficult, but we learn every day and are doing our best to serve our customers as well as possible,” ACC Secretary-General Matthieu Hubert said at the time in response to Bloomberg’s inquiry.
Stellantis uses battery cells from the ACC factory in Douvrin in electric vehicles based on its STLA Medium platform, including the Peugeot E-3008 and E-5008, as well as the Opel Grandland Electric and DS N°8. Bloomberg reported in February that these vehicles equipped with ACC cells could face delivery delays of up to eight months.
In April, the “Automobilwoche” published a report stating that private customers would have to wait an extremely long time for their long-range models, with the article focusing specifically on the relevant variants of the Opel Grandland and Peugeot e-3008 and e-5008. “Our deliveries have been postponed to the first or second quarter of 2027,” a Stellantis dealer told the industry magazine at the time. Other dealers apparently no longer received any firm delivery dates either.
The situation was and remains controversial for Stellantis brands: it only affects customers willing to pay nearly 5,000 euros more for a larger battery with a capacity of 97 instead of 73 kWh and the corresponding increase in range, compared to the same model with a smaller battery.
ACC is said to have reduced waste rates and further stabilized production. However, “Regrettably, we still don’t have enough batteries, even though ACC has made great progress in production,” emphasized a Stellantis spokesperson to Reuters regarding the announced plant shutdowns. Demand for long-range models is particularly high among fleet customers and continues to exceed current supply.
