The former delegate minister of Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari was replaced this Wednesday as president of the French start-up Hopium, which was seen in the “Tesla of hydrogen”, less than a year after taking office.
Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, who was in charge of Transport in the government between 2019 and 2022, was appointed in June 2022 as Chairman of the Board of Directors of this company that is preparing the production of hydrogen-based cars.
A new president, Alain Guillou, was appointed on Wednesday, Hopium said in a statement.
Alain Guillou directed in particular Naval Group, a French group specialized in the construction of naval defense.
The arrival of Jean-Baptiste Djebbari to the Hopium board of directors had raised controversy, the announcement having fallen while he was still a minister for a few hours.
“New projects underway”
The High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP) opposed another recycling project for the former airline pilot within the CMA CGM assembly company.
“The board of directors thanked Jean-Baptiste Djebbari for his involvement and his energy, which allowed Hopium to increase its national and international visibility and lay the foundations of an organization whose vocation is to promote the company from the start-up to the start-up stage. an industrial company”, writes the latter.
Asked by AFP, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari explained that he had “new projects being structured” and that he wanted to “dedicate himself completely” to them.
It said it would reveal its content “in the next few days (or) weeks.”
This is the “reason I organized my succession at Hopium,” he said.
The start-up is developing a fuel cell and hydrogen luxury sedan, which would be the first non-utility hydrogen vehicle produced in France.
The company, which announced at the end of September the construction of a factory in Normandy, indicated in January that it could cut its workforce.
He stressed Wednesday that he had “the goal of achieving profitability within four years.”
Source: BFM TV
