Battery Booster Facility
Interest-free loans for EEA manufacturers scaling their first commercial electric-vehicle battery-cell production site.
Tato příležitost je nyní dostupná v angličtině.
The European Commission lends up to €500 million per project to help battery-cell manufacturers increase production after their facilities have reached the pre-series stage. The loan covers no more than 60% of eligible costs and cannot exceed the financing need shown in your business and financial plans.
Eligible costs include staff, materials, energy, supplies, contracted work and capital expenditure exclusively related to increasing production during the ramp-up phase. Costs qualify from 28 July 2026 until no later than 48 months after signing the loan agreement. The loan cannot pay off other loans, dividends or variable remuneration. Financing inventory before it is used, or gaps between customer payments and supplier bills, does not itself count as an eligible cost.
You must repay the loan. Repayment starts no later than the end of the ramp-up phase or 48 months after signing the loan agreement, whichever comes first. The model terms provide for six equal annual repayments and a maximum maturity of ten years from signing. The Commission may extend maturity if the project undergoes financial restructuring. A deferred repayment schedule within the ten-year maximum attracts a market interest rate, as do overdue repayments.
Money is released in instalments only after agreed project milestones are met. You may have to pledge shares, bank-account funds, payments owed to your business or other assets as security for repayment. If that security is enforced, lenders holding first-priority security have the first claim on the relevant proceeds; the Commission’s security ranks second. Each party pays its own negotiation and agreement-preparation expenses, but the borrower must pay the Commission’s enforcement costs, including legal fees. If tax must be deducted from a repayment, you must increase the payment so the Commission receives the same net amount.
You must report progress, supply financial statements and allow checks and audits. Breaching a milestone or other loan obligation, losing eligibility or misusing the money can lead to suspension or cancellation of undisbursed funds, a demand for early repayment and recovery with market-rate default interest. A relocation penalty equal to 10% of all loan amounts received applies if you cease production and start producing battery cells outside the EEA within 12 months of that cessation.
Eligibility
You must be a private legal entity established in the European Economic Area (EEA), and the production project must be in an EU country, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein. Individuals, international organisations and entities without legal personality cannot apply. Overseas Countries and Territories are outside the eligible project area.
- The main activity must be manufacturing battery cells suitable for electric vehicles. Customers may use those cells for other purposes, and module manufacturing may be included alongside cell production. Merely assembling purchased cell components or stacks without substantially transforming them does not qualify.
- Planned annual capacity must be at least 10 GWh, calculated with 100% overall equipment effectiveness: the maximum saleable output at optimal equipment availability, performance and quality.
- The site must already have been in the ramp-up phase on 28 July 2026. This starts at the pre-series C-Sample stage, when the cell design is substantially finalised and prototypes made with representative industrial processes and equipment are ready for customer qualification. It ends when the facility sustains at least 95% of its nominal annual production capacity; the output is measured over at least three consecutive months.
- This must be your first full commercial-scale electric-vehicle battery-cell production project anywhere in the world. Your majority shareholder must not control an already operating full commercial-scale EV battery-cell production facility anywhere in the world.
- The project must meet the EU taxonomy's do-no-significant-harm test against the technical criteria for battery manufacturing, covering harm to other environmental objectives.
Your plan must show that the loan is needed and that external private financing mobilised for the manufacturing site exceeds the EU contribution. Revenue reinvested by the project is not external private financing. You may combine this loan with other EU or national public support, provided combined support does not exceed total eligible costs and complies with State aid rules.
The Commission assesses financial viability and ability to repay, technical readiness, and the project's contribution to the European battery economy. The usual target is full operational capacity within 48 months after signing. A later date needs credible justification consistent with the business model and financial obligations, and affects the technical assessment; it does not extend the eligible-cost period or automatically defer repayment.
EU sanctions, conditionality measures and funding-exclusion rules apply, including insolvency, unpaid tax or social-security obligations and serious misconduct. Applicants cannot use the Commission's appointed evaluation experts to prepare their proposal. See the full call's section 6.1 for the exclusions.
How to apply
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Create an EU Login account and complete the EU Survey linked on the call page with your project name and contact details. The Commission then creates your EU Send Web access and emails instructions. Submit the application and supporting documents through EU Send Web before the deadline; paper applications are not accepted.
Use the application form (Annex II), business plan (Annex III), detailed financial model and budget table (Annex IV), and the required supporting evidence. The application form has a 70-page limit and the business plan a 50-page limit. Use the revised Annex IV dated 10 September 2026; if you started with the older version, incorporate the published changes. You must also provide your own project and applicant financial models and evidence supporting the project and your financing.
You cannot submit more than one proposal for different projects under this call. Selection leads to loan-agreement preparation and further checks, rather than an automatic loan payment.