Morocco's EV-battery gigafactory wave: Kenitra and Jorf Lasfar

The anchor: Gotion's Kenitra gigafactory

Gotion High-Tech is building the first EV-battery gigafactory in Africa and the wider Middle East & Africa region, in Kenitra. Total planned investment across all phases is USD 5.6–6.5 billion, with a finalised Phase 1 of $1.3 billion on 156 ha under a November 2024 agreement. Capacity is designed to ramp from 20 GWh at start to 40 GWh in Phase 2 and up to 100 GWh across five phases, with production targeted for Q3 2026. The plant will also make cathodes and anodes, with roughly 85% of output exported — an export platform for European carmakers, not a domestic-demand play.

The labour footprint is the property-relevant figure: ~17,000 direct and indirect jobs, including ~2,300 highly skilled at full build-out. The Moroccan state is co-invested via CDG (Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion), a dedicated $800 million ACWA Power + Gotion wind plant is planned to power it, and the AfDB has disclosed the project ("Gotion Morocco 20 GWh Giga Factory," March 2026) — institutional signals that Phase 1 is financed and proceeding.

The materials layer: COBCO at Jorf Lasfar

COBCO is a joint venture of CNGR Morocco New Energy (50.03%) and Al Mada (~50%), a $2 billion deal signed in 2023. Its first unit — Morocco's first Li-ion battery-materials plant, producing NMC precursor cathode (pCAM) — was inaugurated on 25 June 2025 with 40,000 tons of initial capacity, on a 200+ hectare site 125 km south of Casablanca. Target capacities are 120,000 t/yr NMC precursors, 60,000 t/yr LFP cathodes and 30,000 t/yr recycling — an ultimate output equivalent to ~70 GWh/yr, enough for up to ~1 million EVs a year. A pCAM supply agreement with Umicore (March 2025) locks in European offtake.

The phosphate logic

The structural advantage is resource-based: Morocco holds ~70% of world phosphate reserves, and Jorf Lasfar concentrates ~11% of global phosphoric-acid capacity. OCP's $13 billion green programme (2023–2027) is wiring that base into batteries, targeting 30,000 tons of LFP intermediates by 2027. And Morocco's EU and US free-trade agreements let China-linked makers serve Western markets past tariffs. The principal execution risk is energy: a battery load this large is a real test for a still-largely-coal-fired grid — which is why the dedicated wind plant matters.

Property read: Kenitra

Kenitra is anchored by the Atlantic Free Zone (MEDZ), an Industrial Acceleration Zone ~40 km north of Rabat — around 350 ha, expanded toward ~600 ha in 2025 on strong demand. It already hosts a Renault ecosystem, Adient and Citic Dicastal, with the zone targeting 20,000+ jobs before Gotion. Indicative residential asking prices run ~600,000 to 1,500,000+ MAD for apartments. The gigafactory adds a second, larger employment wave onto an already-industrialising base.

Property read: the Jorf Lasfar / Casablanca corridor

COBCO sits 125 km south of Casablanca, within the OCP-and-industrial-port cluster of the El Jadida–Casablanca corridor. Demand here is driven by skilled industrial in-migration around the materials and port complex rather than a pre-existing residential market — earlier-stage and less liquid than Kenitra, but with a heavier industrial anchor.

The honest ledger

What it proves:

• A genuine, partly-financed battery supply chain — a gigafactory (Gotion, Q3 2026) plus operating cathode-precursor materials (COBCO, since June 2025) — not just assembly.
• It is wired to Morocco's phosphate base (LFP) and to EU/US market access, with locked European offtake (Umicore) and state co-investment (CDG).
• A large, durable industrial-jobs base concentrating on Kenitra, on top of its existing auto cluster.

What it still has to prove:

• Delivery on schedule — the Q3 2026 start and multi-phase ramp to 100 GWh are commitments, not outcomes.
• Grid adequacy — a battery load this size tests a coal-heavy grid; the dedicated wind plant is the mitigant, not yet built.
• That Kenitra and corridor property prices actually move with the employment base — the catalogue tracks that, rather than the announcements.

*Figures are sourced and adversarially fact-checked (one correction: the Atlantic Free Zone expanded toward ~600 ha in 2025, not by ~9 ha). Forward-looking targets are commitments. Analysis, not investment advice.*