Representation of a mobile battery pilot plant in Nersac, France, which is being built through Automotive Cells Corporation, a joint PSA and Total project.
PARIS – PSA and French power company Total have signed an agreement to create a joint venture that will build battery cells at sites in France and Germany.
The two corporations have been running the task since last year and announced plans to form a joint venture in January. PSA said Thursday that Yann Vincent, chief commercial operations and chain moderator, would be the ceo of the battery alliance, which will be called Automotive Cells Company or ACC.
Ghislain Lescuyer, president of Total’s battery subsidiary, Saft, will hold the same position at THE CCA.
PSA is working to create a vertical source chain for electric car associations. The transmissions will be built with Belgium’s Punch Powertrain and electric motors built in alliance with Japan’s Nidec.
CHIEF Carlos Tavares said controlling the electric vehicle supply chain can lead to 10% load savings, a significant power with electric cars expected to produce lower margins than internally burning cars in the coming years.
The battery joint venture “gives PSA Group a competitive advantage in the context of expansion in electric vehicle sales,” Tavares said Thursday.
Most electric cars sold in Europe use battery cells built through Asian corporations such as LG Chem and CATL, they come from factories in China, South Korea and Japan, or from European plants in the case of LG. But other participants, adding several startups, are about to join the market until 2030, as stricter emissions regulations drive demand for electric cars.
PSA appoints new head of manufacturing
Vincent will succeed Arnaud Deboeuf, a Renault veteran who enrolled in PSA in 2019 and has been appointed Deputy Ceo, Production Chain and Sources, and will also join the PSA Executive Committee.
At Renault, Deboeuf, former CEO Carlos Ghosn’s best friend, as senior vice president of the alliance, had been with the automaker since 1993, a recent high at the forefront of Renault’s entry-level low price diversity for emerging markets.
A graduate of ecole Polytechnique and the National School of Bridges and Causeways, Debeouf joins PSA as director of business strategy.
“Arnaud is an identified leader in the automotive industry with a wealth of professional delights and I am pleased to welcome you to the Global Executive Committee,” Tavares said in a statement.
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