The Société des Accumulateurs Fixes et de Traction (Saft) was founded in 1918, mainly by Victor Hérold, which since 1913 had been manufacturing batteries for the luggage carts that were used in railway stations and for the lighting of the locomotives from the Paris-Lyon-Marseille Company (PLM).

In 2003, it purchased German company Friemann und Wolf Batterietechnik GmbH (Friwo), and the assets of Emisa and Centra, from Exide.

[6] In 2004, the private equity firm Doughty Hanson Funds purchased from Alcatel, at a cost of 900 million euros, a 100 percent stake in Saft,[12] and listed it on the Euronext in June.

[13] In July 2005, Saft agreed the purchase of a 51 percent stake in AMCO Power Systems Ltd with its owner, Amalgamations Private Ltd.[6] In January 2006 Saft and Johnson Controls Inc announced the launch of a joint venture named Johnson Controls-Saft Advanced Power Solutions LLC to develop, produce and sell advanced technology batteries for hybrid electric and electric vehicles.

[14][19][20] The two companies agreed the separation and Johnson Controls paid Saft 145 million dollars for its shares in the joint venture as well as for the right to use certain technology developed by it.

[24] In February 2013, the Boeing's difficulties with the 787 Dreamliner made Airbus drop the use of lithium-ion batteries for its A350,[25] which hit Saft because it had a supply contract with the aircraft manufacturer, though the company publicly denied a major impact.

[28] In 2016, the French company Total (later renamed TotalEnergies) acquired all Saft shares and delisted it from the stock exchange in August of that year.

[29] In 2020 the Saft part of TotalEnergies signed for a joint-venture with the Stellantis Group[30] in order to develop and produce Lithium cells for electric vehicles.

This Automotive Cell Company (AAC) shall set up a pilot plant at Saft in Nersac, subsequently a gigafactory should follow in Douvrin, Hauts-de-France, and later in Kaiserslauten, Germany.