French billionaire opens battery plant near Montreal
Last Updated: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 | 6:20 PM ET
The Canadian Press
French billionaire Vincent Bollore is joining the global rush to build electric batteries for the vehicles of tomorrow.
And he's setting up shop near Montreal.
Bollore announced Tuesday his company, Bollore Group, will invest $120 million in a battery-producing factory in Boucherville on Montreal's south shore.
The batteries will be built using lithium-metal polymer technology, which give his cars a range of 250 kilometres and a top speed of 130 km/hr.
He hailed the technology as safer than the lithium-ion power plants that major automakers, such as General Motors and Nissan, are counting on to propel their upcoming lines of electric cars.
Bollore said the lithium-ion batteries, often used in laptops and mobile phones, have been known to overheat.
"For a car, of course, it would be very dangerous," he said in an interview.
"It's the first big factory in the world for [lithium-metal-polymer batteries]."
He plans to hire 200 new workers — on top of the 70 employees already working at the facility — to build batteries that will be used in electric cars and buses.
Last year, Forbes listed Bollore among the richest people on Earth, worth an estimated US$1.4 billion.
