French president Emmanuel Macron announced a €700 million ($790 million) investment into the EV battery industry over the next five years.
The aim is to boost the industry and reduce French automakers’ reliance on Asian and U.S. suppliers, Reuters reports.
The French president detailed his strategy during a speech at the International Organisation of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers in Paris. France’s plan follows Germany’s move to invest 1 billion euros in battery cell production and support local jobs that may be at risk from the shift away from combustion engines.
Under a French-German initiative two factories will be built, in France and Germany, according to Macron, who added that European automakers start to realize the threats posed from relying too much on Chinese suppliers in an era where international trade wars pose a real threat.
“As the president of France, I cannot be happy with a situation where 100 percent of the batteries of my electric vehicles are produced in Asia,” Macron said.
“In terms of sovereignty and independence, I think it’s not good in the long run for our industry and the European industry to be 100 percent reliant on non-Europeans. So that’s why according to me on batteries we need a European wake-up call.”
Macron’s strategy is also including the development of an EV charging infrastructure in order to further help automakers make their electric vehicles more appealing to buyers and increase the government’s targets for EV sales.