French carmaker Renault plans to invest around €2bn ($2.39bn) in a strategic partnership with Envision to accelerate the development of electric vehicle batteries for both sustainability and performance.
According to a release by Renault on Jun 28, the company’s funding will boost the development at Envision’s factory in Douai, France which is close to the former’s ElectriCity plant. This Gigafactory is expected to create around 9GWh of power by 2024 and 24GWh by 2030, in EV batteries.
Over the partnership period, Renault aims to hire around 7,500 new workers to keep up with production at Envision and ElectriCity, 2,500 of which will be by 2030. Renault aims to up its competitive edge by taking in a battery maker to improve its supply chain. For research purposes, it is also acquiring a 20pc stake in Verkor, a specialist in battery cell development based in Grenoble.
(€1 = $1.19)