By Plasteurope.com correspondent

A joint venture between two electric-vehicle manufacturers, Stellantis (Amsterdam; www.stellantis.com) and Leapmotor (Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China; www.en.leapmotor.com), plans a concerted push to sell its EVs across nine European countries, starting in September this year.

It is to establish 200 sales outlets in Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, and Spain by the end of the year. It also plans to expand into India, the Asia Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa, and South America, commencing in October.

The JV, called Leapmotor International, is 51% owned by Stellantis, a multinational formed three years ago through the merger of a number of US and European car producers. It was created after Stellantis took a 20% stake in the Chinese firm, worth EUR 1.5 bn, in October last year. The enterprise will be selling two EV models developed by Leapmotor, the five-door C10, and a smaller model, the T03.

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Stellantis chief executive Carlos Tavares said the JV was “a great step forward in helping address the urgent global warming issue, with state-of-the-art battery electric vehicle models that will compete with existing Chinese brands in key markets around the world”.

The Stellantis/Leapmotor announcement came as the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA, Brussels; www.acea.auto) warned the region would need to close the gap between the accelerating take up of electric vehicles and the slow rollout of the electric charging points needed to keep them running.

The ACEA said 8.8 mn charging points will be needed by 2030. “Reaching this [target] would require 1.2 mn chargers to be installed per year, or over 22,000 per week, eight times the latest annual installation rate,” it added.