Bruno Le Maire is hopeful that Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla, will make an investment in France, the French Economy Minister said at LCI on Sunday.
Asked if the Californian electric car giant is considering a vehicle assembly plant or a battery gigafactory, Bruno Le Maire replies that “there are several options on the table.”
“It is he who will decide (…) he knows that he is welcome in France,” he added during the Aix-en-Provence Economic Meetings.
“One of the obstacles is the ground. One of the great difficulties that we are going to have in France is to offer urbanized land with a railway or maritime opening for the transport of goods, with carbon-free electricity and enough power to supply the plant: these lands that meet all these conditions, do not there are many and they will become very rare, very expensive and very difficult to find”, explained Bruno Le Maire, citing the example of the Dunkirk basin where an ecosystem is developing around the electric car. being built.
Grants: “money well spent”
As is the case in the United States and China, Europe should not hesitate to reach into its pocket to encourage this type of company to invest in its soil, the minister continued.
“If to attract GlobalnFoundries, Intel, or Tesla, or other large industrialists, you have to put money on the table, it is not an operating expense, it is an investment that generates employment, that generates economic activity (…), it is money well invested added Bruno Le Maire.
Following the Chinese decision to restrict the export of gallium and germanium, two critical metals for semiconductors and electronics from
power of electric vehicles, the Minister of the Economy announced a French and European response.
“I will see… if we can produce gallium and germanium ourselves on French soil. I have asked my services to examine this option, if it is possible industrially, economically and ecologically,” he said.
It will also ask the European Commission to add the two products to the list of critical metals in which Europe must be independent.
Source: BFM TV
