Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD on Saturday signed an agreement to open a factory near the Moroccan city of Tangiers to build battery-powered vehicles, officials said.

BYD will become the third car manufacturer, after Renault and Peugeot of French, to construct cars in the North African state.

The memorandum of understanding was signed at the royal palace in the coastal city of Casablanca in the presence of King Mohammed VI and BYD's chairman, Wang Chuanfu, whose company is backed by US investor Warren Buffett.

The factory in the new Mohammed VI Tangier Tech City, which is part of a project between China and Morocco, is to produce electric cars, buses and trucks at a 50-hectare site employing 2,500 people, according to the project directors.

A plant for the assembly of electric trains is also planned, but the amount of investment and timeframe of the overall project were not announced.

"We hope to benefit from Morocco's location as an entry point to Europe and the African market," Wang said, adding that the first phase would produce cars.

According to industry sources, Morocco aims to add a fourth major automaker plant before the end of 2021 and to have capacity to produce one million vehicles a year by 2025.

hme/hc

BYD COMPANY

Renault

Tweet

Lyft puts driverless cars to work in Boston
San Francisco (AFP) Dec 6, 2017
Lyft on Wednesday began rolling out self-driving cars with users of the smartphone-summoned ride service in Boston in a project with technology partner nuTonomy. The launch of the driverless test program stemmed from a collaboration between Lyft and nuTonomy announced earlier this year. "As the pilot progresses, select Boston passengers in Seaport area will be matched with nuTonomy self ... read more

Related Links
Car Technology at SpaceMart.com

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only