Renault

Today, Renault announced today that it is launching its own new energy subsidiary to develop grid products. The French automaker says that ‘Renault Energy Services’ will function “much like a start-up” working with other energy companies.
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After unveiling their electric car plans for the Renault, Nissan & Mitsubishi alliance last month, Renault Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn now unveils more specific plans just for the French automaker, which will surprisingly lead the all-electric vehicle push of the alliance.
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On the sidelines of the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show, several major automakers made announcements about their electric car efforts.

The Renault, Nissan & Mitsubishi alliance wasn’t among them, but they now also announce new plans as part of their 2022 synergy strategy.
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Renault has no problem selling its all-electric Zoe with a 49% sales jump in Europe earlier this year, but it’s about to deploy a bunch more in a single move through a new car-sharing service in Madrid.

The French automaker plans an initial fleet of 500 electric vehicles by October.
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Renault technically owns a lot of electric car battery packs thanks to its Zoe program under which they sell the actual car, but they lease the battery pack for a monthly fee.

Now they are using some of those used battery packs to power electric vehicle charging stations. 
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Yet another major automaker, the Renault-Nissan Alliance, announces an effort to produce electric vehicles in China following the country’s aggressive goals to electrify its rapidly growing fleet.
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Renault’s Zoe e-Sport RS Concept, a sexy sports version of its successful all-electric Zoe, has been well received since being unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year.

At first, it was just to showcase some of their racing tech developed for the Formula E and put into a more accessible vehicle, but now Renault is considering making it available.
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After Faraday Future’s FF91 beta prototype shattered the previous record for a “production electric car” at Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb last weekend, now several other new electric cars are taking to the hill climb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
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As we recently noted when Mercedes-Benz launched its home battery pack, it seems that every other automaker, including Nissan and BMW, started leveraging their electric vehicle battery pack technology for residential energy storage since Tesla launched the Powerwall in 2015.

Now Renault is the latest automaker to do the same. The French automaker announced the new home battery pack system in partnership with Powervault today.
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According to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, alternative fuel vehicles (AFV’s) in the Europe Union are off to a very strong start in the first quarter of this year, increasing their numbers sold by 37.6% to 212,945 vehicles.

Hybrid vehicles (HEV) showed the biggest growth with 61.2% versus the same period last year, now counting 111,006 units. Electrically chargeable vehicles (ECV = BEV and plug-in hybrids) grew with 29.9% from 36,322 units sold in Q1, 2016 to 47,196 units in Q1, 2017. This includes 49% growth for “battery-only” (BEV’s) to 24,592 units sold and 13% growth for the plug-in hybrids (21,644 units). The U.S. market showed a similar growth of 49% for electric car sales to 40,700 units sold in the first quarter according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The American car market is about 16% larger.

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With the ZOE, Renault pioneered the idea of selling electric vehicles while only leasing the battery pack for a monthly fee. The idea is controversial. While it significantly reduces the entry price, the vehicle is virtually useless without the battery pack and the fee can be expensive.

Nonetheless, the program proved popular since Renault announced that it recently signed its 100,000th battery lease and now those ZOE owners have an interesting opportunity. They can upgrade their battery pack to Renault ‘s new 41 kWh pack released last year.
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Renault was teasing an electric vehicle “surprise” coming to the Geneva Motor Show, which they unveiled today – the first day of the trade show.

The French automaker debuted a new all-electric sport concept built on the ZOE: The ZOE e-Sport Concept.
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Virtually all automakers are currently working on some form of driverless ride-sharing/taxi services. Whether it’s through investments in existing services, like GM with its acquisition and investment in Cruise Automation and Lyft respectively, or through direct development like Tesla with its Autopilot and ‘Tesla Network‘ programs.

Renault and Nissan are the latest automakers to follow with their own effort in the space. The Alliance announced today a partnership with Transdev to develop a public and on-demand transportation service using a self-driving electric car fleet.
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Automakers will be going to Geneva in the next two weeks for the 87th Geneva International Motor Show. A few of them have announced that they will bring new electric vehicle concepts to the trade show.
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Renault had some success with electric cars thanks to the ZOE, but now the French automaker is making a push in all-electric commercial vehicles with a new version of the Kangoo Z.E. cargo van and a new full-size commercial van called Master Z.E.
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After collaborating on some development programs over their 18-year alliance, it looks like Renault and Nissan are ready for the most important collaboration yet: a common electric vehicle platform for the next generation Renault ZOE and Nissan LEAF.

While it has some interesting implications for mass production of the platform and lowering the price, you shouldn’t hold your breath since Arnaud Deboeuf, the executive in charge of the Renault-Nissan alliance, warned of a long product cycle and media reports suggest that the next generation – not to be confused with a design refresh – shouldn’t come to market until 2020.
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Renault has been doing a pretty good job at increasing the range of its electric vehicles this year. It started with introducing a new 41 kWh battery pack for the ZOE, which resulted in a best-in-class range of around 200 miles. Now the French automaker wants to upgrade its all-electric cargo van, Kangoo ZE, and confirmed it will unveil a new version of the vehicle next month with 50% more range.
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The 2017 ZOE with ~200 miles of range on a 41 kWh battery pack is definitely the more practical electric vehicle Renault introduced at the 2016 Paris Motor Show today, but the French automaker is also showcasing its commitment to EVs at the higher end of the market with a stunning new all-electric GT concept: Trezor.
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We reported earlier this month on rumours that Renault was about to unveil a new all-electric ZOE with a bigger battery pack equipped with cells by LG Chem for a significantly longer range. As it turns out, the rumours are true and the French automaker will include the new pack in its 2017 lineup for the ZOE going on sale next month.
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France-based automaker Renault recently confirmed having signed a letter of intent with Utrecht City Council, ElaadNL and LomboXnet to develop a Franco-Dutch framework of smart solar charging solutions for electric vehicles.

Under the agreement, Renault would supply a fleet of 150 Renault ZOE models through 2017 to the Dutch city, while ElaadNL would manage the required infrastructures and the smart-charge standard, and LomboXnet would take care of the installation of the charging stations.
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The Renault-Nissan Alliance announced it will provide a fleet of 200 electric vehicles for the 2015 Paris climate conference (COP21), which runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 11. The fleet will include the companies’ flagship electric vehicles Renault ZOE, Nissan LEAF and Nissan e-NV200.

The companies said that 200 Renault and Nissan employee volunteers will drive the cars alongside professional drivers.
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