Paris (AFP)
The Chinese group Envision, via its Japanese battery subsidiary AESC, plans to invest two billion euros during the decade in its future electric battery factory in Douai in the North, according to the Elysee and its boss on Sunday.
The project, already deflowered in broad outline Friday by the president of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand, will have two phases: the construction of the site between 2022 and 2024 with 1,000 jobs created, near existing Renault factories including vehicles will integrate batteries, then an extension of production capacity by 2030.
"Our investment of 2 billion is only for Renault," Lei Zhang, CEO of Envision, who may also supply other manufacturers told AFP.
The Elysee has qualified the investment of "absolutely major in France", and sees it as one of the main announcements of the summit of large foreign bosses organized Monday in Versailles, called "Choose France".
To the point that President Emmanuel Macron will himself go to Douai on Monday morning, before going to meet the CEOs of multinationals meeting at the Palace of Versailles.
The Envision AESC plant will be the centerpiece of the "ElectriCity" cluster that Renault will launch in the North in 2022. The batteries, added to the assembly of the electric Mégane and R5, should breathe new life into the factories de Douai, Maubeuge and Ruitz, which were idling.
© 2021 AFP