French billionaire joins charge on car batteries

By Marcel Michelson

ERGUE-GABERIC, France, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Billionaire corporate raider turned ecology activist Vincent Bollore on Thursday opened a factory to produce batteries for electric cars that could be flooding cities from Tokyo to Turin.

The factory, on the site of a family's paper business started in 1822, will produce 10,000 lithium-metal-polymer batteries a year and cost 36 million euros ($52.8 million), taking investment in the project to 250 million euros, Bollore said during a press trip to the site.

The BatScap plant is a joint venture between Bollore Group (BOLL.PA) and state-controlled power utility EDF (EDF.PA). The super-capacitors -- energy storage devices -- it produces can be used in electric cars and hybrid vehicles.

Bollore and EDF are already developing their own electric car, the BlueCar.

Bollore announced he had signed a contract with Continental AG (CONG.DE) to supply 100,000 modules for BMW (BMWG.DE) cars.

Bollore, who also owns the Direct Soir newspaper and Direct8 television channel, is a close friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The timing looks fortuitous, with oil about $90 a barrel and car groups such as General Motors Corp GM.N, Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T), PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) and Renault (RENA.PA) switching to electric cars from hybrids which they build on a small scale.

For Bollore, who has large stakes in media group Havas (EURC.PA) and media buying firm Aegis Group Plc (AEGS.L), batteries are about business, not just about saving the globe.