In the Bolloré group, we loved it, until recently, tell the story of how Autolib’ was invented, there was a little ten years. First, a call for tender from the Paris city Hall for a car sharing system power ; then, an intuition of Vincent Bolloré to find an outlet to its battery technology, unique in the world ; and, finally, a work of titan to design in a few months, around the famous battery, the small electric car, which had become, in recent years, a vehicle familiar of the streets of the capital.
The fall of Autolib’ version Bolloré and the programmed disappearance of her 3 900 cars, which had enabled the production of batteries, take off, do they weigh in turn a major risk on this branch of the group ? The danger exists. Of the four pillars of the empire, the activity ” electricity storage and solutions “, held in 2016 to Marie Bolloré, the youngest daughter of Vincent, is the most fragile. Compared to the logistics or communication, where sales are in the billions, the industry of batteries in a broad sense is a dwarf in terms of sales (311 million euros in 2017).
Especially, losses (– 165 million by 2017) represent half of the income. This was not too problematic when this business was, a bit like in a start-up, rapid expansion. But the organic growth has been reduced, in 2017, from 17% to 2 %. At issue, primarily – already – a decline in sales of batteries of 40 % compared to 2016. In 2017, the 1, 508 batteries sold have generated a turnover of 81 million euros. The small problem is that the factory that manufactures cells and battery packs, located in Ergué-Gabéric (Finistère), has a production capacity nearly ten times higher.
“The decline in volume of batteries sold is explained by a longer life ”
On the side of the Bolloré group, one positive of this situation. It would be mostly…
