DBT eyes 25 pct share of French EV charge-points

By Gilles Guillaume

PARIS (Reuters) - France's DBT, which makes charging points for electric cars, wants to supply at least 25 percent of the 75,000 France plans to install as part of its plan to get the cars on the road, its CEO told the Reuters Auto Summit.

"You need to get the charging points in place before the cars," Herve Borgoltz, CEO of the group which is based in Pas-de-Calais, northern France, said at the summit, which is taking place at Reuters offices in Paris and Detroit from Nov 2-5.

"If the cars arrive and there aren't any charging points, it will be like in 1998," he added, referring to an earlier attempt to get electric cars on the road in France.

"It would be like launching a car with a conventional engine without any petrol stations," he said. Charging stations will play an important role in getting electric cars on the roads, as early models need charging frequently.

Borgoltz said a station at least every 80 kilometers was needed, and each station should have 5-6 charging points. The group is talking to French retail chains Auchan and Castorama about installing charging points in their car parks.

DBT, founded in 1990, generated 6 million euros of sales last year and sees this doubling next year.

French carmakers Renault (RENA.PA) and Peugeot (PEUP.PA) both told the Reuters summit earlier in the week that their respective electric vehicle plans were on track.

Renault, which is working with its Japanese alliance partner Nissan (7201.T) on electric vehicles, plans mass commercialization in 2012, and is launching its Fluence Z.E. sedan in 2011, initially in Israel and Denmark.

Peugeot, meanwhile, plans to launch the iOn, based on its partner Mitsubishi's (7211.T) iMiev, in Europe in 2010.

France said last month it would invest 2.5 billion euros over 10 years in research, subsidies and infrastructure development for electric cars.

(Reporting by Gilles Guillaume; Writing by Helen Massy-Beresford; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)