A major fire has destroyed TEMO’s production site in Vannes, France, where the company developed and manufactured its electric motors.
The premises contained offices, a workshop, showroom and storage area which were all completely destroyed.
The premises were empty when the fire broke out, and no injuries or casualties were reported.
Neighbouring companies, including a hotel, were forced to evacuate during the incident which took place on August 8 2026.
Around 20 emergency vehicles and 50 firefighters were mobilised to tackle the blaze, with police and municipal services also attending the scene to secure the surrounding area.
Business continuity
The cause of the fire remains unknown and an investigation is currently underway.
In a statement, TEMO said the alert was triggered by a connected automatic smoke detector installed in the workshop, which housed TEMO’s R&D, prototyping, assembly of certain products and after-sales service activities.
The company has emphasised that the Vannes site was not used as a logistics warehouse or for as a dedicated storage area for lithium batteries, although a limited number of batteries were present on site.
The company’s main inventory is held separately at a warehouse in Nantes.
The company says the priority now is to ensure its business continuity and supporting its 23 employees.
The destruction of equipment and inventory at the Vannes site means shipments, repairs and R&D activities carried out at from the site have been suspended.
Resumption of activities
The first step in rebuilding the company will be finding new premises say company co-founders, Justine Perussel and Alexandre Seux, who add that it is too early to establish a precise timeline.
The company will also need to replace equipment and inventory, restart its supply chain and secure the resources required to enable a gradual resumption of its activities.
“We are determined to rebuild and move forward,” said Justine and Alexandre in a statement.
“Since Saturday, we have received hundreds of messages of support, along with numerous concrete offers of help.
“Customers, partners, suppliers, local businesses and friends of TEMO: this incredible show of support has touched us deeply and given us tremendous energy for what lies ahead.
“We have not yet been able to respond to everyone individually, but we would like to sincerely thank all those who have reached out.
“Today, the entire TEMO team is united around one priority: to rebuild, progressively resume our activities and continue the TEMO journey.”
TEMO was established in 2018 and produces outboard and pod electric motors ranging from 450W to 3kW.
The company won the Innovation Award at the Paris Boat Show in 2019 and 2025, the DAME Award in 2020 and the IBEX Innovation Award in 2023.
