The Moroccan government said that Chinese high-tech company Guteon will build the first giant factory for electric car batteries in Morocco at a total cost of 12.8 billion dirhams ($1.3 billion).
Guteon is the latest company to invest in manufacturing electric car batteries in Morocco, which seeks to adapt the growing automotive sector to the increasing demand for electric cars.
The Prime Minister’s Office announced – in a statement issued yesterday evening, Thursday – that the Moroccan government and the Guteon Company signed an investment agreement for the giant factory, whose initial capacity for batteries will reach 20 gigawatts per hour.
The Prime Minister’s Office said that the Chinese company intends to increase the plant’s capacity to 100 gigawatts per hour, with an investment that could eventually reach $6.5 billion.
Morocco’s geographical proximity to Europe, free trade agreements with major markets in the European Union and the United States and the existing automobile industry make it attractive to Chinese companies in the field of manufacturing electric car batteries.
Last May, two Chinese companies that manufacture car batteries – Hailiang and Shinzoom – announced plans to establish two separate factories near Tangier. The first produces copper and the second produces electrodes that release electrons (anodes), which are key components of electric car batteries.
A month before that, the Moroccan government initially agreed to the Chinese electric battery manufacturer BTR New Material Group to build a factory near Tangier to produce cathodes, a major component in electric car batteries.
Another Chinese factory, CNGR Advanced Materials, is expected to establish a factory to produce electrodes that gain electrons (cathode) in Jorf Lasfar, 100 kilometers south of Casablanca, where the government has allocated 283 hectares for electric battery industries.
The automobile sector topped Morocco’s industrial exports with a value of $14 billion in 2023, an increase of 27% over the previous year.
Morocco is home to the factories of the automobile companies Stellantis and Renault, with a combined annual production capacity of 700,000 cars, in addition to a group of local suppliers.
