Renault’s electric car division Ampere has opened its battery cell laboratory, announced last year, at the Renault Group Technical Centre south of Paris. It combines the development of cell prototypes with the evaluation of battery cell performance and behaviour.
It has been known since March 2024 that Ampere has begun construction of a battery cell laboratory at the Renault Group Technical Centre in Lardy, France. Now, the new site, with a total area of 3,000 square metres, has been officially inaugurated. The new battery cell laboratory is entirely dedicated to the development and evaluation of battery cell prototypes.
Ampere’s goal is to “anticipate technological breakthroughs and strengthen Renault Group’s competitiveness in the electric vehicle sector,” as the company states. After all, the battery is much more than just a component: in Ampere’s eyes, it is at the heart of competitiveness, sustainability and customer experience. Accordingly, it is essential for Ampere to research groundbreaking technologies, find the right partners and steer today’s technological decisions in such a way as to ensure tomorrow’s performance. Accordingly, the new battery cell laboratory plays a strategic role in the development of the Renault Group’s next generation of electric vehicles.
The new laboratory houses more than 120 state-of-the-art devices on two floors, including a 600-square-metre drying room. In addition to prototype cell development, the laboratory also focuses on electrophysical and chemical characterisation, which enables the performance and behaviour of battery cells to be evaluated (durability, fast charging, disassembly, internal analysis, etc.).
Pioneer for the Renault Group
“With this new laboratory, Ampere fully embraces its role as a pathfinder for Renault Group. Our mission is to explore breakthrough technologies, identify the right partners, and secure the technological choices that will make a difference tomorrow. In such a strategic field as batteries, this ability to anticipate and guide is essential to ensure the competitiveness and sustainability of our electric vehicles,” says Ampere CEO Josep Maria Recasens.
The goal of Ampere and the Renault Group is to gain control of the entire battery value chain, from upstream to downstream, by relying on a trusted network of partners.
Key role in the centre of excellence for electric mobility
“Having our own laboratory dedicated to battery cell innovation marks a major step forward for our engineering. Together with the E-Tech Campus, they play a key role in our ambition to lead cutting-edge innovation in engineering. Our goal is to make the Lardy Technical Center a true center of excellence in the field of electric vehicles,” added Philippe Brunet, CTO of the Renault Group.
Founded in 1951, Renault’s Lardy Technical Centre has been involved in many important developments in the automotive industry. For a long time, it was dedicated to the development and validation of combustion engines for Renault Group vehicles, but now its transition to electric mobility is complete. Key components of the reoriented site are Ampere’s battery cell innovation laboratory and the E-Tech Campus of Renault’s own ReKnow University, which is set to open shortly.
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