BTR makes an EV battery investment in Morocco: The government of Morocco and Chinese EV battery components maker BTR New Material inked a USD 297 mn investment agreement for the construction of a cathode factory for electric vehicle batteries, MAP reported on Friday. The investment is lower than the initial USD 490 mn ticket reported in December. BTR said it plans to invest USD 1.2 bn to establish the new facility last April, with the production earmarked for the US given BTR’s contract to supply components for Tesla.

What we know: The factory will be located in Tangier Technopark City and is set to produce an annual capacity of 50k tons. The project is set to be completed in two phases. The first phase will have a capacity of 25k tons per year and is slated for completion in September 2026, according to the news outlet.

Morocco’s been working on becoming a regional battery hub: Chinese battery minerals producer Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt was exploring a USD 20 bn electric vehicle battery plant in Morocco in August and Chinese battery giant CNGR teamed up with Morocco-based pan-African investment fund Al Mada in September to build a USD 2 bn industrial base for battery parts production and recycling. Global tech giant ABB Group also signed an MoU in December with Chinese EV battery manufacturer Gotion High-Tech to help build its EV batteries gigafactory currently under study in Morocco. In January, the kingdom said it had secured USD 700 mn in EV battery cathode investments from Chinese companies including the Tanier cathode facility. The investments made so far are enough to meet a quarter of Europe’s projected demands.

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