The man behind cell manufacturing companies Statevolt and Italvolt, Lars Carlström, has given up trying to build a gigafactory in Italy and has launched plans for a new gigafactory in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. He said business conditions there are better, with less red tape and shorter permitting times.
The $3.2 billion plant, to be called Statevolt Emirates, will go on a 60-hectacre site in Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (Rakez). The factory will start by producing semi-solid state battery cells, with the aim to move to solid state cell production.
Expected annual production capacity will be up to 40GWh, Carlström said.
It will focus on markets including Africa, India, the UAE and the broader Middle East. Carlström claims to have customers in Africa and India, but declined to name them.
The company will build a pilot line on the site before moving to full production. Its capacity will be 1GWh, delivering cells for a specific, but unnamed, customer.
He told BEST: “Italvolt will remain as a sales company for Europe, we don’t see that the conditions in Europe meet the requirements for such a large infrastructure project due to lack of funding and a massive bureaucracy.”
Statevolt will be applying for building permits, and expects to have the first production line fully operative by the end of 2026, ramping up to 2030.
The company is claiming Middle East financial support, but backers’ identities are being kept secret.
The Rakez zone hosts over 21,000 companies from over 100 countries and more than 50 industries.
In January, we reported a Milan court opened a case against Italvolt and appointed a commissioner to examine a liquidation plan. The company’s creditor is Pininfarina, whose architecture division planned the gigafactory. Carlström said the case is close to being settled, with all funds now in place.
Carlström said Europe is not funding the green transition sufficiently, the ICE vehicle ban from 2035 is unrealistic and needs to be moved back 10 years, and Europe will lose out to China. “We are risking millions of jobs going, will be wasted in Europe now because we cannot defend ourselves from the Chinese invasion of electric cars and the general supply chain. We don’t have anything. We are like toast,” he said.
He added that Italvolt spent €25 million ($27 million) in Italy and “didn’t get a single dime from the authorities.”
His US operation, Statevolt, is currently working on obtaining permits.
Photo: Mustafa Shaker Industrial investment manager (right) and Lars Carlström
