Renault-Airbus partnership to develop new generation of electric batteries

PARIS (Reuters) -European planemaker Airbus announced on Wednesday a partnership with French carmaker Renault to develop a new generation of electric batteries for cars and planes.

Engineering teams from both companies will join forces to mature technologies related to energy storage, one of the main roadblocks for the development of long-range electric vehicles, Airbus said in a statement.

According to Renault, the new partnership will be “complementary” to the French carmaker’s alliance with Japan’s Nissan, as both companies are holding talks on the future of their strategic alliance which will also be centered around electric vehicles.

“It’s complementary to what Nissan is currently doing,” a company executive told Reuters.

The collaboration will focus on energy management optimisation and battery weight improvement while also studying the full life cycle of future batteries and assessing their carbon footprint.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume and Charlotte Van Campenhout, writing by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)