Europe risks becoming “an assembly plant” for Chinese battery manufacturers unless the continent puts in place regulations that ensure technology and skills transfer in return for state aid, according to a new study.
Transport & Environment, an environmental campaign group, has warned that current partnerships between Chinese battery makers and European car companies were too focused on securing short-term battery supplies without any regulatory framework for knowledge sharing, leading to geopolitical and security risks down the road.
“We can spend another 10 or 15 years trying and failing with companies like Northvolt,” Julia Poliscanova, senior director at T&E, said. “Or we can [benefit from] where there is expertise and use it to catch up quickly, just like the Chinese actually did in the last 20 years.”