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Denmark explores possibility of setting up EV assembly plant
The idea is raised as US businessman Terence McAuliffe visits Bornholm, where the Chinese-built EV Mycar is being tested
While the Danish People's Party is busy voicing its disaffection with Denmark's EV (electric vehicle) ambitions, a more supportive note has been sounded by Invest in Denmark on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea where a little EV runabout called Mycar is currently being tested.
As financial daily newspaper Børsen reported on 31 August, Bornholm has received a visit from the US businessman and senior figure in the Democratic party, Terence McAuliffe. The immediate reason for his appearance is that he is now the owner of the Chinese company EU Auto which manufactures Mycar. McAuliffe acquired the company this spring, and is also reportedly investing large sums in the development of hybrid cars.
One of the areas of discussion touched on during Mr. McAuliffe's visit, at which the Director of Invest in Denmark, Ole Frijs-Madsen, was also present, was the possibility of Denmark becoming a car manufacturing nation. Or perhaps more specifically, a Mycar manufacturing nation.
The idea of an auto assembly plant in Denmark may sound far-fetched, to put it mildly. But Terence McAuliffe has no problem entertaining the thought of setting up a partnership to do exactly this, provided – and this is the key point – that he can be sure of selling lots and lots of his clean green automobiles over here.
And this circles us round to the far-fetched aspect. With Denmark's population numbering little over 5½ million, the Danish auto market as an entirety – let alone whatever market share EVs may manage to achieve – is surely too small to make McAuliffe's sales vision even remotely realizeable.
But. There is an extra dimension to all this. And it was voiced by Invest in Denmark, which originally forged the contact between the Chinese manufacturer of Mycar and Bornholm's green business initiative "Bright Green Island". Ole Frijs-Madsen spelled out the bigger view to Børsen:
"Our intentions are twofold. The first is to make Denmark into a 'hub' – a distribution channel for EVs. The second is to make an assembly plant."
This more widely-conceived strategy, with Denmark channelling EVs in all directions round Europe, makes the secondary notion of an EV assembly plant seem somewhat less pie in the sky. And if Invest in Denmark can convince McAuliffe to set up shop here, they will also succeed in their parallel aim of creating jobs.
The job aspect is something that means something to Terence McAuliffe too. Back home, he is pressing ahead with setting up assembly plants for Mycar in both Mississippi and Virginia, where he lives, and has ambitions of becoming governor. He told Børsen:
"It is naturally a new thought to move a Chinese factory to America. But don't forget that it has a value that the car is built by American workers. And I am sure that it will be the same over here."
