Battery shortage: Stellantis pauses EV production in France
Stellantis is halting production at its French plants in Sochaux, Rennes, and Mulhouse for at least one week. In two cases, this is due to shortages in the supply of EV batteries, as supplier ACC struggles to keep up with demand for its nickel-based long-range batteries.
Image: ACC
According to _Reuters_, the plants in Sochaux and Rennes are temporarily halting production due to a shortage of ACC batteries. The news agency cites an official company statement. However, the pause is only indirectly related to the lack of large batteries. Stellantis primarily wants to avoid producing too many other vehicles to “avoid building up vehicle inventory that does not match customer demand,” as the company explains. After all, demand is particularly high for long-range electric models, which customers currently face very long wait times for.
The Sochaux plant in eastern France, which produces models such as the Peugeot 3008 and Peugeot 5008, is set to pause operations specifically from 23 to 30 October. The Rennes factory, meanwhile, will close from 22 to 30 October. This is where the Citroën C5 Aircross is manufactured, among others. The previously announced production halt in Mulhouse from 15 to 30 October is said to have other reasons unrelated to the battery shortage.
What is clear, however, is that supplies from ACC remain a significant bottleneck for Stellantis production. ACC is a joint venture between Stellantis, Mercedes, and TotalEnergies, which originally planned to build three plants in France, Germany, and Italy but is now focusing on the ramp-up phase at its only cell factory in Douvrin, France. The other two major projects have been scrapped.
As _Bloomberg_ reported in February, citing internal sources, operations in Douvrin have also not been smooth. At the beginning of the year, ACC was reportedly only able to equip around 1,000 cars per month with long-range batteries, far below the original target. The joint venture is said to have subsequently brought in a team of experts from China to boost production and reduce high defect rates. Stellantis, as ACC’s anchor customer, is the main party affected by the slow scaling.
In February, ACC also acknowledged fundamental issues: “The ramp-up is proving difficult, but we are learning every day and doing our utmost to serve our customers as best as possible,” ACC Secretary-General Matthieu Hubert told _Bloomberg_ at the time.
Stellantis uses the battery cells from the ACC factory in Douvrin, among other models, in electric vehicles based on the STLA Medium platform, including the Peugeot E-3008 and E-5008, as well as the Opel Grandland Electric and DS N°8. For these vehicles equipped with ACC cells, Bloomberg already reported delivery delays of up to eight months in February.
In April, a report by _Automobilwoche_ then revealed that private customers in particular are facing very long waits for their long-range models. The article specifically focused on the corresponding variants of the Opel Grandland, Peugeot e-3008, and e-5008. “Our deliveries have been pushed back to the first or second quarter of 2027,” a Stellantis dealer told the trade journal at the time. Other dealers reportedly no longer received any binding delivery dates.
The situation is particularly awkward for Stellantis brands: after all, it only affects customers who are willing to pay nearly €5,000 more for a larger battery with 97 kWh instead of 73 kWh capacity and the corresponding increase in range, compared to the same model with a smaller battery.
In the meantime, ACC is said to have reduced defect rates and further stabilised production. However, “Unfortunately we are not yet receiving enough of the batteries, despite big progress in ACC’s production,” a Stellantis spokesperson told Reuters in the context of the announced plant pauses. Demand for long-range models, particularly among fleet customers, remains high and continues to exceed current supply.
