The Chinese Thunder Power could occupy 650 workers in Gosselies as of 2020

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The Chinese company Thunder Power, specialized in the production of electric cars, could, from the beginning of the industrial phase of its planned project in 2020, occupy nearly 650 workers on the former Caterpillar site in Gosselies, which corresponds to a production capacity of about 15,000 vehicles per year, said Tuesday the Walloon Minister of Economy, Pierre-Yves Jeholet (MR). The latter met Monday in Namur, for the second time, the leaders of the company and is now "hopeful" to reach a balanced agreement.

"Thunder Power has requested the Walloon Region to participate in the financing of its operations.The investment requested is worth 150 million euros and must be part of a first round of funding of at least 600 million dollars in which especially specialized funds, "said the minister.

According to him, "contacts have multiplied" over the last three months between the company, Sogepa – the financial arm of the Region – and his cabinet, with the support of regional tools such as AWEX (Wallonia export agency) and the CATCH cell, which aims to accelerate the growth of employment in Charleroi.

The board of directors of Sogepa will meet this Wednesday to decide, among other things, which suites to reserve for this file.

At the end of May, the Walloon Society of Management and Participations (Sogepa) sent a non-binding letter of intent to confirm its interest in the project and to announce the base of conditions on which a participation of the Region to finance the European part of the Thunder Power project.

"The Walloon Region, through Sogepa, is currently negotiating the terms and conditions of this financial intervention and I am hopeful that the two sides will soon come to a balanced agreement allowing both to invest in this ambitious project while ensuring the best interests of the Walloon Region, in particular by ensuring that the amounts invested are allocated to the European project via the Gosselies site, "Jeholet added.

The planned regional investment would thus be phased over several years and would focus on the financing of physical installations.

"This is a real opportunity to place Wallonia in an industry of the future.The structuring nature of such activity for the Walloon ecosystem and the potential for future job creation are important. , Thunder Power plans to eventually use a network of local subcontractors over 200 companies "and anticipating, from the beginning of the industrial phase of its project to employ nearly 650 workers in Gosselies for a capacity of production of about 15,000 vehicles per year. The ultimate goal is to reach a production of more than 55,000 vehicles a year, finally badured the minister.