July 12 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's economy ministry said that it signed an agreement for the construction of an electric car manufacturing plant worth an estimated 280 million levs ($170 million/143.2 million euro) with Germany-based startup Next.e.Go Mobile.
The company will build the plant on part of the site of Balkan machine manufacturing plant in the city of Lovech, in north-central Bulgaria, the economy ministry said in a statement on Saturday. The investor will operate in Bulgaria through a local unit, Next.e.Go Bulgaria AD.
The new plant will have a capacity to manufacture over 30,000 electric cars per year, according to the statement.
The construction of the production facility is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
Caretaker economy minister Kiril Petkov said in the statement that the entire aluminium body, wire harnesses and software for the electric vehicles will be manufactured in Bulgaria. Next.e.Go will produce in Bulgaria its e.GO Life 70, e.GO Life Sport and e.GO Life Cross models, the economy ministry said.
The investment will create some 1,000 new jobs in Bulgaria, Petkov said last week.
Next.e.Go, founded in 2015, is specialised in the development and production of durable electric vehicles. The company has about 400 employees and benefits from a network of research and technology companies at its headquarters in the city of Aachen. Since 2018, Next.e.Go has been mass-producing its e.GO Life electric car at its plant in the Aachen Rothe Erde Industrial Park, according to information published on the company's LinkedIn profile.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)