Two vehicle development organizations from Taiwan and France signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Friday on future cooperation in developing production standards and testing technology for electric vehicles.
The partnership is aimed at eventually pushing for mutual certification of electric vehicles from the two countries. Joe Huang (黃隆洲), the president of Taiwan’s Automotive Research & Testing Center (ARTC, 車輛研發連盟), signed the cooperation agreement with Laurent Benoit, head of the Union Technique de l’Automobile du Motocycle et du Cycle (UTAC).
The ARTC, founded by various Taiwanese government agencies and private enterprises, is a major developer of a wide range of services for the local car industry, such as research and development, testing and certification.
UTAC is a private French company that has an official mandate for vehicle approval, safety testing and vehicle inspection.
Huang said the memorandum would pave the way for future cooperation between Taiwan and France, with the industrial sectors of both countries having high hopes of establishing a mutual certification system for electric vehicle production.
Industrial Development Bureau Director-General Woody Duh (杜紫軍) led Taiwan’s delegation to a bilateral industrial cooperation conference in Paris on Wednesday and witnessed Friday’s signing ceremony.
Taiwan and France have prioritized the development of electric vehicles in their future industrial cooperation, Duh said, and he described the memorandum as the fruit of two years of close bilateral industrial exchanges. Duh said Taiwan has laid a good foundation for electric vehicle production, in particular in the development of components such as batteries and power control systems, and he believed there was room for the local electric vehicle sector to grow.
Meanwhile, Venturi of France signed a letter of intent with Taiwan-based Advanced Lithium Electrochemistry Co to (立凱電能) cooperate on the development of electric buses.
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