A brave statement out of the Renault-Nissan Alliance this morning announcing an update on plans for large-scale battery production in France with LG Chem.
Renault-Nissan and LG Chem are also talking to CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission), the firms’ joint statement says. A proposed agreement for the development of next-generation batteries for production in early 2017 should be signed in September. The Alliance’s statement might well have been issued to apply pressure on one of the signatory firms.
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The partners want to produce current-generation [sic] batteries from the end of 2015 at a plant in France with the so-called new-generation batteries to follow just over 12 months later.
Even allowing for glitches such as yesterday’s announcement that the Zoe plug-in car will be delayed by a few months and not now reach showrooms until late 2012, Renault’s experiment of mass-producing EVs in Europe when the medium- and long-term demand remains unclear should be applauded. The trouble is, the stakes are high in the short term: thus far, the Nissan Leaf which pioneered the Alliance’s plans to build hundreds of thousands of cars-with-cords annually has proved none too popular with Europeans.
Renault seems undeterred, pointing out in today’s media announcement that it remains the only manufacturer to offer a range of four electric vehicles: Kangoo Z.E., Fluence Z.E. (AESC* batteries), Twizy and Zoe (LG Chem batteries). By 2015, the firm will build 80% of the Renault-badged electric vehicles sold worldwide at plants in France, while a third-generation electric motor will be manufactured at the Cléon powertrain complex from 2013.
Today’s announcement from the R-N Alliance, plus another earlier this week concerning new incentives for EVs and hybrids in France shows the French state’s consistent pro-industry policy, no matter what party is running the national government.
According to a new directive, designed to boost the cashflow of France’s two largest OEMs, thousands of French civil servants will soon be driving round in electric Renaults, Peugeots and Citroëns subsidised by tax payers. Mitsubishi Motors should also be thrilled: its Mizushima plant supplies PSA with the Peugeot iOn and Citroën C-Zero electric city cars.
Perhaps when the penny drops that a Japanese production facility has begun to enjoy a windfall courtesy of French taxpayers, France’s senior civil servants might instead be told to follow the example of the president and order one of PSA’s pricey HYbrid4 models. Remember the sight of a rain-soaked, newly-elected Monsieur Hollande waving to crowds back in May from his chauffeured diesel-electric DS5?
Will these dirigiste policies work? Early indications are that European buyers are holding back on EVs, while as EU-wide sales figures over the last decade prove, the Prius is indeed a tremendously popular car. Just not in Europe. The people who buy the world’s best known hybrid vehicle live mostly in major US coastal cities (you can drive it solo in many carpool lanes) and Japan (generous federal government subsidies are lavished on buyers of petrol-electric cars there).
Hybrids, and plug-ins too, might well have as bright a future in Europe as the French government, Renault and PSA believe, but thus far, buyers seem mostly unwilling to be illuminated.
*a JV set up by Nissan and NEC
Author: Glenn Brooks
