Electric Cars – French Cars

Renault Looking for Reduced Production Costs through Electric Manufacturing Hub

French car maker and renowned global automotive brand Renault mentioned that it is looking to combine manufacturing plants for possible cost savings. In a statement released recently, the car manufacturer showed interest in combining three electric car manufacturing plants in Northern France to form a conglomerate, which will save production costs and churn out more than 400,000 auto vehicles each year by 2025.

Renault also mentioned that the single electric vehicle plant, which will be called Renault ElectriCity would help create 700 new jobs across the three plants, which already employ 5,000 people when combined.

The company is facing a stiff challenge in the electric car market, with rival Volkswagen catching up in the market. Changes such as these “will contribute to reaching the necessary competitiveness to produce B segment cars in France“, the plant manager said, referring to smaller passenger vehicles, which are popular in France.

Renault, which has been operating under a loss recently, is looking to not only slash costs but also reduce its workforce under new CEO De Meo. The car manufacturer is looking to shift attention towards the electric car market and open new revenue streams and cost savings here.

YouTube Link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvyDiWSUk8A

Poor Infrastructure Still Haunts the Switch to Electric Cars

Electric cars are all around us, and it is time for us to see how they will go in this ultra-modern era. While a lot of progress has been made, the infrastructure throughout much of Europe still leaves a lot to be desired.

A team of engineers from the National Grid went on a 565-mile round-trip from Wokingham to Teesside to test the facilities for electric cars and see how these cars reacted in the pressure.

The goal for the journey was to check the vehicle charging network across the UK and assess the speed, accessibility, and ease-of-handling during the whole journey.

The whole journey had 9 hours of driving and over 4 hours of charging, which goes to show that the infrastructure is still developing.

“We don’t know yet . . . what people really want to do in terms of charging,” Richard McMahon, from the Warwick university, told the BP conference.

“The [current] charging infrastructure, you can make it work . . . but if we want this to really take off we need big charging infrastructure,” said Dustin Benton, policy director at the Green Alliance, a think-tank.

“People talk about connecting these ultra fast chargers at strategic locations and various destination points [but] they potentially put a lot of local strain into the [electricity] distribution system and what we need to do is to start putting investment into that distribution system to allow it to cope with that,” mentioned Keith Anderson, who is the chief executive of Scottish Power, which owns electricity networks in parts of Scotland, Wales and north-west England.

“We’re an industry built over 120 years of internal combustion, and shifting to a technology that’s not relatively new but is a fundamental turning point for the industry,” he further added.

Electric cars have still got a long way to go, and the current progress is not satisfactory by any means.

Why France’s Announcement to Ban Diesel and Petrol Cars Is a Hoax

Car interior

The announcement of the French government to ban the selling of petrol and diesel cars by 2040 might look good on paper to some; but when you consider the rapid shifting from conventional cars to electric cars in recent times, the announcement appears to be nothing more than a useless utterance of words. Why? Well, it’s because there won’t be any cars with conventional engines to ban by 2040—at least not in France.

Volvo—one of the leading manufacturers of cars in France—had recently announced that they’ll only manufacturing hybrid cars post 2019. Other manufacturers, such as Peugeot and Renault, have also got enough ideas in their locker to make the switch. Why then, has the Macron government announced such a timescale is beyond the reasoning of most experts.

When you consider how a polluted country like India has put forward the idea of no longer selling the fuel driven cars post 2030, the fact that the government of France is labeling its call to action as some part of an environmental “revolution” appears to be nothing short of a sham. While the French government is at it, why don’t they ban the sales of horses for transportation by 2040 also? Both of their announcements can be equally useless that way!

France Automobile Industry Is Incapable of Getting the Job Done on Time

The French automobile industry has the audacity of taking over two decades to ban petrol and diesel cars, something other countries will be done by 2030.

Petrol pump

For some unknown reason, the French automobile industry lives under the notion that it is fine to set targets for something that needs to be settled right away. Recently, it was revealed that it will impede the sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040. How about waiting another century?

The so-called optimistic measure was driven by Volvo’s statement to fully go electric by 2019. It is difficult to comprehend why these mega businesses fail to work in a timely manner. By 2040, the damage by extensive carbon emissions would probably have been done.

According to European Environment Agency, Automakers like Peugeot, Renault and Citroen are the top three businesses when it comes to lessened carbon emissions. To put into perspective how ridiculous the target set by the French automobile industry is, Norway and Germany have the same targets but for the year 2025 and 2030 respectively. This only depicts the incapability of the French auto industry.

France calls itself as one of the leaders in the world’s climate action. With the lenient targets it has set for itself, it is more than difficult for anyone to agree.

Is The Renault Trezor Really The Best Concept Car Of 2016?

The Renault Trezor was first unveiled at the Mondial De L’Automobile Paris 2016.

And it has the kind of design that you just cannot miss. It’s eye-catching for sure. And it did win the award for the Most Beautiful Concept Car of the Year 2016. But there’s a huge difference between being eye-candy and a practical vehicle that will satisfy the concerns of the buyers.

Will it be able to achieve all that? We’re not really sure.

There’s no doubt about the fact that the Trezor has a unique sense of style, a personality, and an irresistible charm. There’s something about the absence of lines across its body and the “floating” roof that gives the car a futuristic look.

However, the two-seater electric coupe does not leave enough room for the passengers to feel comfortable. We’re also not sure about the visibility through the red-tinted glass panel that separates the roof from the rest of the body.

Renault also added a clamshell-like opening to the vehicle where the whole top lifts off kind of like a jewelry box. While this was likely done to add an element of futuristic appeal to the vehicle, it makes for a rather awkward entry and exit.

Would you like to travel in a vehicle like this? Tell us all about it in the comments.

Is The Tesla Model S Safe For French Roads?

It goes from 0 to 60 in just 2.5 seconds.

Since it was introduced in June 2012, the Tesla Model S has become one of the company’s key offerings and the face of the electronic car industry. It became the first electric car to score first place in the monthly new car sales rankings anywhere in the world. By December 2015, the company had sold more than 100,000 units.

Not to mention that the car scored a perfect 5.0 on the American National Highway Traffic Safety Administration automobile safety rating.

However, questions were raised on the safety of the vehicle during the company’s latest attempt to bring the success of their vehicle to France. The company was busy promoting its Model S and Model X in Biarritz, France in its ‘Electric Road Trip’ tour where an unusual event occurred.

As some passengers and a Tesla employee were on a test drive in the Model S 90D, they heard a loud sound and the vehicle indicated a problem with the charging. Soon after they exited the vehicle, it burst into flames.

The story received widespread attention in the media and caused Tesla’s stocks to drop several points.

Although the cause of the fire is still unknown, this is by no means the first fire incident involving a Tesla Model S. In view of the numerous reported cases of a Tesla Model S catching fire, it’s a wonder how the vehicle gained such a perfect score in the safety ratings in the first place.