Image: @EmmanuelMacron on Twitter
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently met with French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the “manufacturing of electric vehicles and batteries,” among other things.
“In line with our ambition for decarbonizing and reindustrializing France and Europe, with @elonmusk we exchanged on future green industrial projects, such as manufacturing of electric vehicles and batteries,” President Macron said in a Friday tweet.
Neither Musk nor President Macron elaborated on what came of the meeting. However, Musk did express his excitement for upcoming “plans” in France in a response to Macron’s tweet.
“It was an honor to see you again. Looking forward to exciting plans in France!” said Musk.
It was an honor to see you again. Looking forward to exciting plans in France!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 3, 2022
Earlier this year, French minerals company Imerys unveiled a new mining project that will extract 34,000 tonnes of lithium — a key component of electric vehicle (EV) batteries — per year for 25 years from a quarry in Central France. That’s enough lithium for 700,000 EV batteries per year, so there is certainly potential for EV projects in the country.
Musk said during Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting back in August that the company might announce the location of a new Gigafactory this year.
With 2022 about to end, that announcement may come pretty soon. Canada has been a top contender to house Tesla’s next Gigafactory, but could the company be considering putting another Gigafactory in Europe? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
