EV Project on Reunion Island
19 January 2010
Renault, EDF, GBH (Groupe Bernard Hayot), Total Réunion, GE Money and the GERRI agency signed a letter of intent on the experimentation of 50 electric vehicles in Reunion Island—La Réunion, one of France’s overseas départments (DOM)—together with battery charge infrastructure powered mainly by renewable energies.
The letter of intent signed in Reunion under the patronage of French President Nicolas Sarkozy marks the commitment of the six partners to the VERT project (Electric Vehicle for a Technological Reunion), a principal component of the GERRI program (Grenelle Environment Forum in Reunion – Succeeding in Innovation).
The idea behind the project is to demonstrate that the overall CO2 performance of the electric vehicles in Reunion is superior to that of today’s thermal combustion and hybrid vehicles.
The purpose of the VERT program is to test the implementation of a network of charge infrastructures sized in number and charge technique (normal or fast) to meet the mobility needs of a territory with a limited geographical area.
Reunion island lies 800 km (497 miles) east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, and has an area of 2,512 square kilometers (970 square miles).
VERT is also an opportunity to test specific electric mobility offers aimed at company or government vehicle fleets and at individual customers. Lessons learnt from the project could be applied to countries or regions with similar electric systems.
The French Environment and Energy Management Agency, ADEME, will be submitting a file on the VERT project at an upcoming call for expression of interest (EOI).
Renault-Nissan seems to get a head start on worldwide vehicle electrification program. Their comprehensive-distributed approach could give positive results very quickly.
Will they be able to produce enough batteries and e-cars to satisfy the world demand?
Posted by: HarveyD | 19 January 2010 at 08:26 AM
Yesterday I received a Renault leaflet (one of those junk mailings anonymously distributed door-to-door).
I was surprised that, apart from highlighting their current models and special offers, they had reserved two pages outlining their EV strategy and upcoming models.
Posted by: Arne | 20 January 2010 at 03:19 AM