Renault plans to convert this plant into car recycling hub
Renault is transforming its site in Flins, France to create the 'Re-Factory' where it will focus on four core things: Retrofit, Re-energy, Recycle and Restart. The carmaker calls it Europe’s first circular economy factory dedicated to mobility with a negative CO2 balance by 2030.
The Flins factory currently makes Renault's best-selling EV Zoe and the Nissan Micra. But Renault is pushing ahead with plans to cease vehicle production at the plant despite union opposition and government pressure.
The facility's conversion to Re-Factory will host renovation activities for Paris' Choisy-le-Roi by supporting and providing training schemes for the employees of Flins and Choisy-le-Roi to develop their skills. The carmaker aims to employ more than 3,000 people on the site by 2030.
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The transformed facility is to be realised between 2021 and 2024 and will involve a large network of multi-sectoral partners. The four centres of activities that the facility is to host will support a vehicle's entire life cycle by acting on the main components of circular economy - supply, eco-design, functionality, maintenance, reuse, remanufacturing and recycling.
The retrofit division aims to increase the lifespan and use of a vehicle. This is done by bringing together expertise such as reconditioning of used vehicles and retrofitting them into ones that use less carbon-intensive energy. The result of this is less polluting cars that last longer.
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Under the Re-energy division, the carmaker will upgrade the electrical ecosystem and new energy solutions such as battery repair and new ways of giving batteries a second life - like stationary storage of renewable energies. The Re-factory also aims to be a hub for new energy sources such as hydrogen.
The Re-cycle division will bring together all activities to optimize life cycle of materials and car parts by using techniques like dismantling, reuse, remanufacturing and recycling. These activities will help supply the ecosystem of Re-factory and its partners. Thus, continuing to increase the proportion of recycled materials in vehicles.
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Under the Re-start division, innovation and knowledge sharing will be encouraged. The carmaker plans to house an incubator as well as a university and training centre.
In line with the Renault Group's environmental strategy to achieve carbon neutrality in Europe by 2050, its Flins facility aims to become the leading European site with a negative CO2 balance by 2030.
