France Backs Battery-Charging Network for Cars

By DAVID PEARSON
PARIS -- The French government Thursday said it plans to spend €1.5 billion (about $2.2 billion) on creating a battery-charging network for electric vehicles as part of a broader state plan to encourage the development of clean vehicle technology and battery manufacturing.
It also said it would seek financing of €900 million for its €1.5 billion plan from a state loan that's planned to be launched next year.
The government will make the installation of charging sockets obligatory in office parking lots by 2015, and new apartment blocks with parking lots will have to include charging stations starting in 2012.
A group of public and private fleet operators has already identified a need to purchase 50,000 electric vehicles through 2015, Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo told a press conference, and the government reckons that by pooling purchasing there is potential to reach a fleet of 100,000 vehicles by that date.
The plan involves setting up a battery manufacturing factory at a Renault SA facility at Flins, west of Paris, at a cost of €625 million, of which €125 million will be contributed by the French state's strategic investment fund.
The plant will have an annual production capacity of 100,000 batteries and will supply other French electric vehicle manufacturers, including PSA Peugeot-Citroen.
Peugeot-Citroen chief executive Philippe Varin said his company will have four small electric vehicles ready for sale in 2010, including two small city cars, one of which will be based on a vehicle that Peugeot-Citroen will be buyin from its Japanese partner Mitsubishi Motors Corp., as well as small utility vehicles for both brands.
Renault's chief operating officer Patrick Pelata said Renault will have four mass-market electric vehicles on sale in 2011 and 2012.
He reaffirmed that Renault and its alliance partner Nissan Motor Co. together plan to invest a total of €4 billion in developing electric vehicle technology.
Write to David Pearson at david.pearson@dowjones.com