Renault Fluence News

China is set to provide the power for the large-scale introduction of electric cars as it accelerates towards two million sales a year by 2020. Australians have bought a relative handful of plug-in cars since the start of local sales, despite the quality of the Nissan Leaf and Holden Volt, as government at all levels ignores calls for the sort of subsidies and tax breaks that have provided a vital spark in Europe and the USA. Renault Australia was forced to pull the plug on its Fluence ZE, a battery-swap electric car, because of the lack of infrastructure and problems for its energy partner, Better Place. But China could change the game as it forces carmakers to adopt electric and plug-in hybrid technology to cut its reliance on imported oil and reduce pollution in the overcrowded cities where more than half of its population is concentrated. "I think the breakthrough will come from China. I think the solution is going to be there," says Carlos Ghosn, the head of Renault-Nissan. "China is moving very aggressively. All the problems are lining up to make China the biggest electric car and plug-hybrid market in the world." His company is leading the world in production of electric cars, including the Nissan Leaf and impressive new Renault Zoe, although he admits sales have been slow with just 70,000 deliveries worldwide over the past five years. "Four or five year ago, when we decided to go with electric cars, people were considering electric cars like a golf cart.  But we came with the leaf and now the Zoe, which is a very good car. The 70,000 people today who are driving electric cars are very happy with the product," Ghosn says. But he also recognises the challenges. "The main obstacles to electric cars are mainly linked to infrastructure and range, because they are connected. If you can do only 100 or 150 kilometres, well, you worry about range. But if there is infrastructure everywhere you don't worry about the range. If you can charge at the mall or work." He says the other barrier is cost, even though the Zoe will be the equivalent of $14,000 in Europe - plus a monthly battery rental - thanks to large-scale government subsidies. "People want environmentally friendly cars but they don't want to pay for them. They just want an even price," Ghosn says. "The solution is going to be there. We must continue to reduce the price of the car, through continuous improvement, and continue to lobby and work with cities and governments in order to have the infrastructure." But he says the big push is coming from China, where carmakers are being forced into electric-car partnerships. "The Chinese have already taken very hard decisions and they have said two million electric cars in 2020. You cannot have any investment decision agreed by the government in China if you do not have what they call a 'new-energy' car. A 'new energy' car is an electric car or a plug-in hybrid. If you don't have them don't ask to increase capacity, even of normal gasoline cars." But Ghosn says China is not the only country accelerating its electric drive. "On top of this, France is moving aggressively, the US is moving aggressively and some cities are moving aggressively," he says. "The mayor of London has told us already he would like to have all the taxis in London as zero emission. We are negotiating with the mayor of Rio in preparation for the Olympics. "We have seen a lot of initiative coming. We need to be patient. We need to continue to develop the technology, develop the product, cut the costs and make the cars better. "When it takes off, we will be ready." This reporter is on Twitter @paulwardgover  

...Better Place’s decision to freeze its investment in Australia. The electric Renault was to have cost around $40,000, excluding the price of leasing the battery from Better Place. Lease deals entitled the owner to be able to pull in to a Better Place battery-swap station and exchange the pack for a fully charged one in what the company predicted would be around the same time it takes to refill a petrol-powered vehicle. The energy provider launched in 2011 with a plan to roll-out a national network of recharge points and battery-swap sites but this week announced it was withdrawing from Australia and the US to focus on the Israel and Denmark markets, where it has a more extensive recharge infrastructure. The press release also says Better Place will look for someone to take over existing customers in Australia, noting the company “is committed to finding alternative arrangements for existing customers in these markets”. Better Place is best-represented in Canberra, where 13 charge points are installed. Significantly for Renault, there are no battery-swap stations - and the Fluence ZE was specifically designed with a removable battery pack for “hot-swap” convenience. Renault Australia spokeswoman Emily Ambrosy says the Fluence ZE has been postponed “until further notice.” “The Fluence ZE launch was predicated around being able to recharge and swap batteries,” she says. “With Better Place winding down in Australia, we can’t give that flexibility to customers, so we’ve postponed it indefinitely.” A Renault press release says the company still believes in the future of electric vehicles and “will continue working towards the introduction of Renault-brand EV models in the future.” The most likely candidate is the Zoe, which is Renault’s well-shaped city car based on the Nissan Leaf powertrain and should arrive in Australia next year. GM Holden also had a deal with Better Place to provide electricity for its range-extending Volt. Holden says but isn’t as exposed due to Volt’s ability to recharge overnight off the domestic electric plug. Upgrading to 15 amp-powerpoints halves the time and Holden spokeswoman Shayna Welsh says new customers can contact ChargePoint and GE to install dedicated “quick-charge” units in homes, giving potential Volt owners a range of options. “Customers who have taken delivery of their home charge stations can continue to use them and receive power. We’re working through those issue with Better Place now, she says.”  

... networked EV charging stations now installed in all our mainland capital cities. EV infrastructure provider ChargePoint has just completed two public charging outlets in Perth, adding to existing sites in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Townsville, the Sunshine Coast and Adelaide and bringing the total number of the company's charging outlets up to 50. The move precedes this year's (2012) local introduction of electric vehicles ranging from the Nissan Leaf and Renault Fluence ZE. CEO James Brown says it is a sign of things to come. "With major car manufacturers moving rapidly to bring EVs on line, the country needs state-of-the-art infrastructure to support them and we are providing that," he says. "It is anticipated that several thousand charging stations will be located throughout Australia over the next three years as electric vehicles gain market share". ChargePoint says operating the open access charging stations is straightforward and only requires use of a free network card, available from ChargePoint (either online from www.chargepoint.com.au or by phoning 1300 300 885).

A mildly restyled Nissan Micra, it is scheduled for release in January 2012. Given Renault Australia's expansion plans, it may be under consideration for local consumption. The third of five vehicles to be launched in India in just over a year, Pulse is designed to appeal to the broadest customer segment. It follows on Fluence and Koleos launched earlier this year. This rapid rollout highlights Renault's commitment to the Indian market. Pulse comes equipped with the 1.5 dCi engine that ranks best-in-class in terms of fuel consumption and performance. Both car and engines are built in Chennai in the first dedicated Renault-Nissan vehicle manufacturing plant, inaugurated in 2010 to support the Alliance's ambitions on the Indian market.

But that's the electric future, according to green infrastructure company Better Place, which is rolling out a network of charge points and battery switch stations. And it's not inner-city greenies, but fleets, that will be the driving force. At the moment, plug-in cars are a 'chicken and egg' situation. To be successful, they need the infrastructure to recharge quickly and conveniently - rather than being tied for 12 hours to a household socket -- but on the other hand, you need enough cars on the road to justify building the infrastructure. To bypass that hurdle, Renault and Better Place are partnering for the introduction of the electric Fluence sedan, which will be the first car to hit the market here with a swappable battery. And the first time a car has hit the market maked 'batteries not included'. You buy the car from Renault, but Better Place leases you the battery - which can be removed and switched for a full one in less than five minutes - and installs your charge point. But fleet sales are driver for the deal, which echoes a strategy already used in Israel and Denmark, with other countries also setting up. "Fleet sales are about 50 per cent of new car sales - taking in user-chooser leases - and we're talking a high percentage of fleet sales for this car," Better Place corporate affairs head Alison Terry says. However the company won't yet reveal lease prices or what the range of subscriptions is likely to be, except that there will be different plans based on distance - possibly ranging from 10,000km to 40,000/unlimited. But Better Place is confident there will be strong interest from fleets looking to reduce fuel bills, service costs - which are about 20 per cent cheaper on electric cars -- and also reduce emissions, of course. "It will be of benefit to anybody who spends $80 a week of more on fuel," Terry says, pointing out that the budget point is more relevant to newer cars. The average weekly distance in Australia is about 288km but that rises to 500km for vehicles less than two years old - which is largely the passenger fleet age. With average fuel consumption at 11.5L/100km, it's not hard to imagine a weekly fill of at least 50 litres - and that tips you over the $80 mark. "It also gives fleets the ability to predict their fuel expenditure far more readily than they could with internal combustion cars and the rising cost of fuel," Terry says. "We're talking to them about total cost of ownership -- but the (pricing) details will have to follow that." Terry says another key proposition for fleets is the prospect of zero emissions at no extra cost. "While people feel for the environment, they're not prepared to pay more to be green in Australia - we all know that. And commercial fleets completely are not prepared to pay more. While the fleet's business might have emission reduction targets, when it gets down and dirty to the fleet purchasing guy, he's not there to be green, he's there to meet his bottom line. Every petrol car that's replaced by an electric car saves between four and six tonnes of carbon emissions entering the atmosphere every year," she says. "So if you're a fleet owner and have carbon reduction targets, you can achieve that by introducing some electric cars into your fleet mix." The roll-out of the car and infrastructure will start in Canberra, where Better Place has sewn up a 10-year contract for the supply of 'green' electricity, mainly from wind farms.

….for Australian by 2015, with plug-in power from Better Place. As carmakers race to get buyer backing for everything from the Mitsubishi iMiEV to the Nissan Leaf and Renault Fluence ZE, GE has committed to putting its first 1000 battery cars on the road over the next four years. It's the single biggest electric car commitment yet from a global company that intends to buy 25,000 EVs worldwide by 2015. GE's CustomFleet is Australia's largest fleet management company, with more than 120,000 vehicles on the road, and it sees EVs as a smart way to reduce running costs and contribute to their customers' corporate sustainability. At the same time as the GE commitment, Better Place says Australia will have the world's biggest EV network by the end of 2013 with the company using battery-swap stations and home recharging during off-peak power cost periods to drive the electric vehicle fleet. "We will be able to change a battery in the time it takes to fill up the tank of a petrol car," says the CEO of Better Place in Australia, Evan Thornley said. "That means electric vehicles will have the same "unlimited range" as petrol cars." Renault-Nissan and Mitsubishi have already allied with Better Place as they begin electric vehicle sales in Australia. A battery leasing plan is also being developed by GE and Better Place. The principle has the customer buying an electric car outright but leasing the battery pack from Better Place for a set monthly charge. GE last week also invested in local electric vehicle production company EV Engineering, which is building seven proof-of concept electric Commodores. Those cars will then be placed in fleets to assess their performance and drivers' reactions. The Commodores will join a growing fleet of local electric vehicles. Victorian manufacturer Blade Electrics has converted 40 Hyundai Getz cars to run on electricity and is now testing Hyundai i20s and Holden Cruzes for the same process. The electrified Getz costs about $48,000.

... that already includes Mitsubishi, Nissan, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Renault is taking a shortcut by converting its four-door Fluence sedan, already on sale in Australia with a petrol engine, to electric power and expects to add extra models as they become available from France. But there is a big twist - Fluence Z.E. buyers will only pay Renault for the car and will then sign a contract with the Better Place organisation for their battery and energy supplies. Renault promises the car will cost much the same as a petrol version of the Fluence, which would mean less than $30,000, but no-one is talking yet about the other costs or the exact rollout of the charging points and battery-swap locations that Better Place said will eliminate the 'range anxiety' that hangs over the future of electric cars. "Our vision is clear. The overall cost of ownership must be equivalent to an internal-combustion car," said Justin Hocevar, managing director of Renault Australia. "Sales of the Fluence Z.E. will begin before the end of 2012." The Renault move comes less than a week after Mitsubishi set the price of its very basic iMiEV plug-in car at $48,800 and following the commitment by its global Nissan-Renault alliance partner, Nissan of Japan, to a dedicated electric car called the Leaf. The Nissan, too, is expected in Australian showrooms next year. Renault and Better Place are short on any real detail beyond the basics of the Fluence E.V. and a commitment to a national rollout of charging infrastructure that will start soon in Canberra. "I'm very confident that the vast majority of electric car drivers will be able to drive wherever they want and whenever they want," says Evan Thornley of Better Place. He said that long-term supply deals for renewable energy, starting in Canberra, mean that electric car drivers will have more certainty on their long-term running costs than drivers of petrol-powered cars that face the uncertainties of oil company pricing.