Europcar Pre-Orders 500 Renault Electric Vehicles
04 March 2010
Following on from the Memorandum of Understanding on electric vehicles signed at the 2009 Frankfurt International Motor Show, Europcar has pre-ordered 500 Renault electric vehicles for delivery in Europe’s largest cities from the 3rd quarter of 2011.
The four show-cars demonstrated at the Frankfurt Motor Show—Twizy Z.E. Concept, Zoe Z.E. Concept, Fluence Z.E. Concept, Kangoo Z.E.—;are a foretaste of the electric vehicle (EV) range, whose market launch will begin in 2011 with three models: a family sedan; a small city car; and an LCV-version Kangoo for fleets and business users.
They will be followed in 2012 by a compact 4-meter, 5-seater sedan. After 2012, the EV range will continue to expand into all segments to meet the needs of a diverse range of customers.
Renault firmly believes that the leverage created by short-term rentals will help to drive adoption of electric vehicles by individual customers, in addition to its distribution network.
—Uwe Hochgeschurtz, Senior Vice President, Renault’s Corporate Sales Division
This is excellent news for future e-cars production in Europe. Organisations like Europcar could demonstrate that e-cars can be used by many (if not all) drivers.
Will e-cars renters forget to recharge? Meaningful (loud) reminders will be required + clear indications of the closest charge points.
Of course, short, medium and longer range units could be made avaialble.
Posted by: HarveyD | 04 March 2010 at 09:11 AM