Source: Christopher Chico
By delaying and weakening local battery sourcing requirements to just 10% of subsidized vehicles through 2029, France and Germany are removing the demand signal that European cell makers need to justify building gigafactories now. Battery producers won't invest billions in European capacity without guaranteed customer bases. Pushing them to rely on cheaper imports for another five years locks in supply chain dependency and wastes the window when subsidies could have pulled manufacturing localization into place. The policy favors Asian battery dominance over European industrial capacity at the moment when building local supply chains is most critical.