Renault ElectriCity: New Old Plant

Social and Ecological Responsibility

The Renault factories in northern France have been shrinking in recent years, with six buildings on the factory premises having been demolished so far. The founding of ElectriCity was preceded by negotiations with the traditionally strong employee representatives in France. Five different trade unions had to be convinced. Previously employed Renault workers were transferred to the new company. Little changed for them. Newly hired employees, on the other hand, receive less pay in the new, attractive Renault electric world. Nevertheless, Biondo emphasizes the social component. New jobs have been created, and Renault provides older and handicapped individuals with equal job opportunities. Cooperation with the surrounding communities has been intensified, and partnerships with schools and universities have been established.

Currently, ElectriCity is powered almost exclusively by nuclear energy. By 2024, Biondo plans to completely switch to sustainable, renewable energy. When asked how he intends to achieve this, the factory chief replied:

“We changed (and reduced — Ed.) our employees’ pay within six months — and that in France! We can change the factory’s electricity by 2025! Additionally, the plant will, of course, be CO2 neutral by 2025!”

A Magnet for Suppliers

This year, the foundation stone for a new battery plant on the factory premises will be laid, with completion planned for 2024. Renault also wants to be as self-sufficient as possible in battery production and no longer rely on batteries from an LG plant in Poland. The redevelopment of the factory facilities has already consumed over 500 million euros. Biondo emphasizes that everything is being done to produce as profitably as possible.

Which brings us back to wages. All the changes in the wage structure are meant to be an additional incentive for suppliers who want to settle on the factory grounds. Businesses can explicitly work with the lower wages negotiated with the unions for ElectriCity.

Biondo is very optimistic

And again the wink. The new Megane E-tech is simply a perfect car. The merging of the factories creates a much better “we-feeling” among the workforce and overall, “Renault is much stronger than Tesla. Tesla had to build everything from scratch, but we at Renault only have to convert!”

Megane E-tech still runs on the lines with the combustion engines

The production of the new Renault E-tech has been ramping up slowly for a few weeks now. The entire line has been rebuilt, and new Japanese welding robots largely autonomously manufacture the body shell. Materials are now only transported within the plant with the help of self-driving vehicles of various sizes. Biondo points out that by eliminating forklifts and other vehicles that need to be operated by people, the risk of accidents has been drastically reduced. Currently, one shift completes 30 vehicles per hour, and soon the two-shift operation is expected to enable 420 vehicles to be produced per day.