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Renault May Join Euro Battery Consortium

Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard says his company will join a European consortium to make battery cells for electric cars if there’s a viable business case to do so.
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Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard says his company will join a European consortium to make battery cells for electric cars if there’s a viable business case to do so.

“We’re all for it,” Senard tells a French government hearing, but adds that “it has to make economic sense.”

European leaders have been keen to establish local expertise and production capacity for EV batteries, rather than rely entirely on Asian-based suppliers, as they ramp up electrified powertrains for future models.

In April, French battery company Saft Groupe and carmaker PSA Group and its Opel affiliate in Germany formed a battery cell consortium and arranged for the French and German governments to help subsidize the partnership.

In June, Germany said it intends to invest €1 billion in a total of three such consortiums whose members might include BMW, chemical giant BASF, Germany battery suppliers BMZ and Varta, and Volkswagen Group.

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