A €3.22 Billion Plan Across Three Countries
Gotion’s shareholders approved the plans on 20 October, and the company disclosed the decision in its third-quarter report on 29 October. The vote moves forward a partnership the two companies first announced in September.
The investment is split almost evenly. Gotion and its subsidiaries will contribute about €1.60 billion and PowerCo about €1.62 billion. On the same day, shareholders also approved a combined €1.094 billion package of construction contracts linked to the Spanish project.
Valencia and Šurany: Two Cell Plants for Europe
The largest of the three ventures is in Valencia, near Sagunto, where a plant with 29.1 GWh of annual cell capacity is planned at a total cost of €2.26 billion. PowerCo will hold 51% and Gotion 49%. Volkswagen says the factory it is already building there will move into the joint venture. The site will become the European production hub for its Unified Cell, the group’s standard LFP-based battery cell.
Gotion’s subsidiary Gotion Spain Green Energy plans two engineering, procurement and construction contracts with PowerCo Spain, worth €295 million and €799 million.
In Šurany, Slovakia, the partners plan an 8.4 GWh cell plant costing about €480 million. Here the shares are reversed: Gotion will hold 51% and PowerCo 49%. Gotion’s existing factory project at the site will transfer into the venture. Its cells are meant for both electric vehicles and stationary energy storage, though the split between the two has not been disclosed.
Kenitra Becomes the Cathode Supplier
Morocco’s part of the plan sits further upstream. In Kenitra, the partners plan a plant that will produce 100,000 tonnes a year of LFP cathode active material, the component that largely determines a cell’s performance and cost. The facility will cost about €480 million, with Gotion holding a 51% stake.
Most of its output will go to the two European cell plants. This gives Kenitra a direct role in supplying one of the largest LFP manufacturing programmes planned in Europe, and links Moroccan industry to the production lines of a major European carmaker.
Building on Morocco’s First Gigafactory
The cathode venture is separate from Gotion’s battery cell gigafactory, which is already taking shape in Kenitra’s Atlantic Free Zone. That plant, described as Africa’s first battery gigafactory, drew MAD 13 billion (about $1.3 billion) in investment for its first phase and is designed for 20 GWh of annual capacity.
Gotion Power Morocco planned to begin commissioning production equipment at the cell plant in the week of 20 October. At full development, the gigafactory is expected to create more than 2,300 direct jobs. The start of commercial production has not yet been confirmed.
With a cell factory and a cathode plant on the same site, Kenitra is moving towards the integrated battery ecosystem Gotion has described for Morocco, from materials to finished cells.
What This Signals for Morocco’s Industrial Ambitions
The decision to build cathode capacity in Morocco reflects advantages the country has been developing for years. Morocco holds the world’s largest phosphate reserves, a key input for LFP chemistry. It sits close to European markets and already has a strong automotive manufacturing base, built around carmakers’ plants in Tangier and Kenitra.
The venture also shows how Morocco’s role in the battery value chain is growing. Moroccan production would no longer stop at assembly or raw materials. It would extend to high-value processed materials that European cell makers need to reduce their reliance on imports from Asia.
The Steps Still Ahead
Shareholder approval does not mean the deals have closed. The September agreement still requires regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions. Cell purchase volumes, supply guarantees and final commercial terms will be set in later agreements.
The ownership picture is also shifting. In a separate transaction, Volkswagen, which first invested in Gotion in 2020, agreed to sell a 5.3% stake in the company to Hefei Construction Investment. Volkswagen says it will remain a strategic investor and keep its board representation and other nomination rights.
For investors and policymakers following the energy transition in North Africa, Kenitra’s place in the plan is worth watching. If the ventures close and the cathode plant is built as planned, Morocco will become a supplier of a critical material for Europe’s battery industry, a step beyond the role it has played in that market so far.
