Is electrical chemistry becoming the new coal in the former mining lands of northern France? A factory of batteries for electric vehicles of the Chinese group Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC) -Envision will be established in Douai (North), in order to supply Renault, indicated to the World two sources close to the case, confirming information revealed, Friday, May 28, by Le Figaro. It would therefore be the second major battery production project in the Hauts-de-France region, after that of the Automotive Cells Company (ACC), this joint venture between Total-Saft and Stellantis, which plans to set up a factory in Douvrin (Pas-de-Calais) on the car manufacturer’s heat engine production site.
The new Douai plant will be integrated into the future “North Pole” for the production of electric vehicles of the Renault group, which brings together the group’s current sites at the diamond of Douai, Maubeuge and Ruitz. It will create 2,000 jobs, says Le Figaro, which will be added to the 5,000 of this electric axis. In Douai, where the Renault Talisman, Espace and Scenic are built, the announcement could bring real relief, at a time when production is almost at a standstill.
Negotiations with the social partners are underway on the industrial set-up and the social impact of this vast “North Pole”, led by its director Luciano Biondo (recruited from Toyota Valenciennes) and supervised by Renault’s CEO, Luca de Meo . This last “Is struggling to move the file forward”, indicates a source.
Industrial organization of the privileged Franco-Japanese alliance
According to our information, this plant will produce batteries for the technical platform of medium-sized electric vehicles, known as “CMF-B-EV”, of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. In particular, it will equip the future electric R5, which should go into production at the Douai plant in early 2024.
“The plant is intended to equip other vehicles manufactured in Douai, for example, a future small electric Nissan, which would succeed the current Micra”, indicates a good connoisseur of the file. On the other hand, the new electric Mégane, designed on the basis of another Alliance architecture (the CMF-EV), and which will roll out of the Douai chains between the end of this year and the beginning of 2022, receives batteries from the South Korean LG made in Poland.
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