Government signs MoU with GOTION high-tech to build Africa's first gigafactory

A memorandum of understanding was signed Wednesday in Marrakech between the Moroccan government and the Sino-European group “GOTION High-Tech” to define the contours of a GIGAFACTORY project, the first in Africa, and its integrated ecosystem in the Kingdom.

Initialled on the sidelines of the first edition of “GITEX Africa” by the Minister Delegate for Investment, Convergence and Public Policy Evaluation, Mohcine Jazouli, and the President of GOTION High-Tech, Li Zhen, in the presence of the Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch, and several Moroccan and Chinese officials, this memorandum aims to strengthen cooperation in fields related to renewable energies and their use, mainly in the production of electric vehicles.

Through this partnership, the Kingdom intends to join forces with a key player in the renewable energy and electric mobility sector, whose reference shareholder is the Volkswagen automotive group, according to a joint press release.

The Sino-European group GOTION High-Tech, a leader in the electric mobility sector, plans to set up an industrial ecosystem for the production of batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems in Morocco, the document said, explaining that GOTION High-Tech has chosen Morocco for the study of its investment project, which has established itself as a leader in the automotive industry in Africa under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.

The investment of the GOTION High-Tech group will allow the implementation of complete battery production solutions with a capacity that could eventually reach 100 GWh/year and will be located in the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region, in the commune of Bouknadel, according to the same source.

The Kingdom of Morocco is the continental leader in automotive production, with a sector that is fully integrated into the global automotive value chain. The Moroccan automotive sector has a capacity that is expected to reach 1 million vehicles per year. 90% of automotive production is exported to more than 75 countries worldwide. The two automakers are part of an ecosystem of nearly 250 international Tier 1 suppliers, including 30 of the world’s top 100 global players such as Magna, Aptiv, Sumitomo, Valeo, Denso, Lear, Marelli, Faurecia and Plastic Omnium.

The signing ceremony was marked by the screening of a corporate film highlighting the positive spin-offs of investments in clean energy, the focus of Moroccan-Chinese cooperation, particularly in the economic field, and the results expected from the creation of this plant.