This week in La Loupe, Emmanuel Botta explains the challenges of gigafactories, at a time when we are betting on the electric car.
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The team: Xavier Yvon (presentation), Charlotte Baris (writing), Mathias Penguilly (editing), Jules Krot (directing) and Marion Galard (work-study).
Credits: Europe 1, France 3, France Info, RTL, RMC
Music and dressing: Emmanuel Herschon/Studio Torrent
Picture credits: Anne-Laure Chapelain and L’Express
Logo: Anne-Laure Chapelain/Benjamin Chazal
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Xavier Yvon: The gigafactories! You may have heard this term before in an episode of La Loupe, but at the time we didn’t go into the details. Emmanuel Botta, from the Economy department of L’Express, came to see me a few days ago and insisted on coming to record a definition to put away in our closet. Hi Emanuel!
Emmanuel Botta : Hi Xavier! I imagine that you will want to start with the origin of the word “gigafactory”?
Xavier Yvon : In my opinion, it’s rather simple: “giga” for “gigantic” and “factory” means “factory” in English, so it’s a very big factory.
Emmanuel Botta : And no, it failed… On the other hand, for “factory”, you are right. The trap is that they are still huge factories. The concept of “gigafactory” comes from the company Tesla and was forged in 2014. In order to save money on very large scales, Tesla had a giant factory built for its electric vehicles…
For further
PODCAST. Elon the Coherent
“On electric vehicles, it is time to put an end to a form of naivety in Europe”
Gigafactories, certificates of origin… How France will produce its green hydrogen
“We can’t miss each other”: hydrogen, at the center of the French industrial game