French auto maker Renault SA (RNO.FR) has already invested EUR4 billion in electric vehicle technology and more is to come in the years ahead, Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said Tuesday.

Renault and its Japanese alliance partner Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. (7201.TO) have set their sights on becoming the world leader in the nascent electric vehicle market, and the two companies have said in the past they planned to invest EUR4 billion in the field to develop cars, battery and powertrain technology.

"We have already invested EUR4 billion, and we will be above that as we have development still to do," Ghosn told Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of a meeting organized by the French industry minister with local vehicle manufacturers and equipment suppliers.

Ghosn said he is sticking to Renault-Nissan's projection that electric vehicles will represent 10% of the global automobile market by 2020. That figure has been considered optimistic by many industry analysts, but Ghosn said the other forecasts of the electric vehicle market at the end of the decade have been revised, mostly on the upside.

Philippe Varin, chief executive of Renault rival PSA Peugeot-Citroen (UG.FR), said his company sees full-electric vehicles accounting for around 5% of the global market by 2020. Hybrid electric vehicles will represent between 10% and 15%, he said, so four-fifths of the world market will still be driven by internal combustion powertrains by 2020.

-By David Pearson, Dow Jones Newswires; +331 4017 1740; david.pearson@dowjones.com

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