Battery maker Blue Solutions plans 2 billion euro gigafactory in France
Repeats story that ran on Tuesday, with no changes
By Eric Onstad
LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) -French company Blue Solutions plans to build a gigafactory in eastern France costing about 2 billion euros ($2.17 billion) to produce a new solid-state battery it has produced that has a 20-minute charging time, its CEO said.
Solid-state batteries are seen as the "holy grail" of batteries for electric vehicles, promising longer driving ranges and shorter charging times than traditional lithium-ion packs, but technical hurdles have held back large scale commercialisation.
Blue Solutions, a unit of French conglomerate Bollore BOLL.PA, already produces solid-state batteries for Daimler electric buses.
Its new smaller battery for cars with a 20-minute charging time aims to have a range of 1,000 km (621 miles) and tests have shown energy density 30%-40% higher than the top lithium-ion cells, Chief Executive Richard Bouveret told Reuters.
The company is also holding talks on more deals after signing one with BMW BMWG.DE last year to develop a battery for EVs, he said.
Blue Solutions' planned gigafactory would be located in eastern France, close to both French and German automakers, and start production in 2030, Bouveret said in an interview.
In contrast to typical sprawling battery gigafactories, it would consist of modular towers with a smaller footprint and would have capacity of 25 gigawatt hours (GWh).
In January, a source told Reuters the French company was in talks with German auto giant Volkswagen VOWG.DE about adapting a battery for cars. Both Blue Solutions and VW have declined to confirm the discussions.
Blue Solutions aims to have six joint development agreements (JDAs) signed by the end of 2024, including with at least one more automaker, Bouveret said.
The company last year signed a memorandum of understanding with contract electronics maker Foxconn 2317.TW to develop batteries for electric two-wheeled vehicles.
Bouveret said Blue Solutions is open to working with rival battery makers to speed commercialisation of its battery design.
"We are pragmatic. We want to bring our solid-state battery to the market very quickly," he said.
"For that to happen, we may offer a licence for our technology to another battery manufacturer to scale up our chemistry in their own gigafactory."
He declined to identify the companies with whom Blue Solutions was holding talks on JDAs.
The company plans to seek more than 100 million euros as part of a first financing round in the second half of this year to help develop the new battery, Bouveret said.
Blue Solutions is seeking partners that can also bring other expertise, including carmakers, industrial firms and miners of battery component lithium.
The company has a pilot factory near its headquarters in Brittany, where it will produce prototypes of its new battery and ship an "A sample" by the end of the year to select potential customers and a third party testing firm.
Shipping prototypes is a key development for battery makers, showing they are confident of their technology.
($1 = 0.9209 euros)
Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by Susan Fenton
Asset collegati
Ultime news
Disclaimer: le entità di XM Group forniscono servizi di sola esecuzione e accesso al nostro servizio di trading online, che permette all'individuo di visualizzare e/o utilizzare i contenuti disponibili sul sito o attraverso di esso; non ha il proposito di modificare o espandere le proprie funzioni, né le modifica o espande. L'accesso e l'utilizzo sono sempre soggetti a: (i) Termini e condizioni; (ii) Avvertenza sui rischi e (iii) Disclaimer completo. Tali contenuti sono perciò forniti a scopo puramente informativo. Nello specifico, ti preghiamo di considerare che i contenuti del nostro servizio di trading online non rappresentano un sollecito né un'offerta ad operare sui mercati finanziari. Il trading su qualsiasi mercato finanziario comporta un notevole livello di rischio per il tuo capitale.
Tutto il materiale pubblicato sul nostro servizio di trading online è unicamente a scopo educativo e informativo, e non contiene (e non dovrebbe essere considerato come contenente) consigli e raccomandazioni di carattere finanziario, di trading o fiscale, né informazioni riguardanti i nostri prezzi di trading, offerte o solleciti riguardanti transazioni che possano coinvolgere strumenti finanziari, oppure promozioni finanziarie da te non richieste.
Tutti i contenuti di terze parti, oltre ai contenuti offerti da XM, siano essi opinioni, news, ricerca, analisi, prezzi, altre informazioni o link a siti di terzi presenti su questo sito, sono forniti "così com'è", e vanno considerati come commenti generali sui mercati; per questo motivo, non possono essere visti come consigli di investimento. Dato che tutti i contenuti sono intesi come ricerche di investimento, devi considerare e accettare che non sono stati preparati né creati seguendo i requisiti normativi pensati per promuovere l'indipendenza delle ricerche di investimento; per questo motivo, questi contenuti devono essere considerati come comunicazioni di marketing in base alle leggi e normative vigenti. Assicurati di avere letto e compreso pienamente la nostra Notifica sulla ricerca di investimento non indipendente e la nostra Informativa sul rischio riguardante le informazioni sopra citate; tali documenti sono consultabili qui.
