Total demands level playing field

PARIS: Oil and gas major Total will invest heavily in car battery production only if it can compete on a level playing field with Chinese and Asian manufacturers, its chief executive said. Battery maker Saft, a unit of Total, said in May that it planned to invest more than 200 million euros ($233 million) in a next-generation European battery alliance project to research, develop and build a new generation solid-state battery to compete with Asian and US rivals. Saft’s four-way alliance with Siemens, Solvay and Manz plans to begin mass production of new generation lithium-ion batteries from early 2020, but Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne is concerned that European manufacturers would be operating at a disadvantage to Asian rivals.  

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2018.

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