PARIS (Reuters) – Renault on Thursday announced a long-term commercial partnership with French start-up Verkor for the supply of electric batteries with an overall capacity of 12 GWh per year, including for Renault’s future compact Alpine model.
The partnership is part of Renault’s efforts to secure crucial components and seize control of the value chain of its future unit Ampere, dedicated to electric vehicles and software which Renault plans to introduce to the stock market by the end of the year.
Under the new deal, Verkor – in which Renault started to invest in 2021 – will produce batteries for its premium Renault and Alpine models in a plant in Dunkirk, northern France.
The first car using the Verkor batteries will be the Alpine C-Crossover GT, which Renault plans to start building in 2025.
Asian battery producer Envision AESC will also provide batteries to the group, used in smaller and less powerful vehicles from another factory located in Douai, close to Dunkirk.
(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume, writing by Tassilo Hummel, editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)
