France to host pilot plant for Franco-German battery consortium

PARIS, Sept 18 (Reuters): France will host a pilot plant to make electric car batteries, a French Finance Ministry source said, part of a pan-European project to rival Asia's dominance of the battery market.

France had committed 700 million euros and Germany would offer 1 billion euros toward a project that envisaged setting up plants in both nations in future, the source said of the plans. A minister said the plans would be announced on Thursday.

The electric car battery project aims to repeat the success of Airbus, which began producing aircraft 50 years ago as a pan-European project with public support. However, efforts to mirror Airbus in other industries have proved more difficult.

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told lawmakers in parliament on Tuesday that the plans for battery industry would be announced on Thursday when he meets his German counterpart Peter Altmaier in Paris, although he gave no details.