Twenty one electric car sites, branded Z.E. Expert, are now live and ready to offer the full range of sales and after-sales services for Renault’s electric car customers, with each one having benefited from a comprehensive sales staff training, site upgrade and infrastructure program.

Each dealership will be able to handle potential EV customer questions, as well as offer advice on making the most of the benefits of running one, including the essential environmental and financial factors to take into account. Trained Z.E. sales specialists, a minimum of two per showroom, will also be on hand to guide interested private and business customers through funding and charging options, as well as battery hire plans to allay any potential concerns over powertrain replacement costs and performance.

All Z.E. Expert sites have a Kangoo Van Z.E. demonstrator, so that members of the public can experience for themselves the smooth, silent and serene feeling of driving an electric car.

On the service side, workshop staff at each site – a service manager and two technicians – have undergone specialist training so that they can address the demands of the new technology and become familiar with the new tools they have been provided with. The dealerships have also purchased specialist ramps and equipment to deal with the service and maintenance of its electric cars, which attract no benefit-in-kind taxation and 100% capital write-down allowance in the first year, as well as being Congestion Charge and VED exempt.

Additionally, Z.E Expert dealers have invested substantially in three new Chargemaster charging points with UK preferred partner, British Gas – one each for the workshop, demonstrator area and car park. The charging point in the car park will be accessible for all customers to use. There will also be a dummy domestic charging point in the showroom to provide demonstrations to customers.

Commenting on the launch of the first set of Renault Z.E. Expert sites, Thierry Sybord, Managing Director, Renault UK, said, “I’m delighted to see so many of our dealers embracing this new era of electric transport. With a full range of four fully-electric models set to launch in the UK in less than one year, we have high hopes for our Z.E. range. I’m sure our Z.E. Expert dealers will reap the rewards on both sales and after-sales and we look forward to charging ahead with them in the months and years ahead as we seek to attract as many electric car buyers as possible.”

Supporting the on-site facilities, Renault has launched a series of other resources to help would-be-EV drivers become fully au-fait with the facts of living with a Z.E. product. Among them are expert Z.E. Live text chat or one-way video, including video guides via www.renault-ze.com, plus a UK freephone service on 08000 72 33 72.

All Renault dealers outside of the 21 specialists have been given a Z.E. induction and will also be able to handle enquiries and refer customers to a suitable member of the Z.E. Expert dealer network.

Its aim is to share the ZE experience with all visitors, in order to convince them of the credibility of Renault’s offering and the relevance of its ambitions in electric cars.

The Renault ZE center is based on the concept of a customer journey: reception; briefing on the electric vehicle ecosystem (comprising the car, battery, charging infrastructure and new services); an educational tour of the showroom; an opportunity to test drive Kangoo ZE, Fluence ZE and Twizy on a test track dedicated to electric cars on Ile Seguin; and last, a discussion session, enabling ZE advisors to take account of customer feedback.

From January 2012, the Center will be open to the general public and to the Renault sales network, which will be able to book test drives online, by phone or directly at the Center’s reception desk.

Renault won the largest part of a 25,000 electric cars public contract. It will supply 10,000 vehicles to France’s postal service La Poste and 5,600 additional units to other public administrations.

Deliveries will start at the end of the year and will last until as late as 2015, the newspaper said.

Le Figaro said another contract for the supply of 3,900 electric cars to the French state would be awarded to PSA/Peugeot-Citroen at a later stage.

[source: Le Figaro]

The Carminat TomTom Z.E. Live, which will be featured on Renault electric cars, is a collaboration to extend TomTom’s navigation product to electric cars.

The Carminat TomTom Z.E LIVE receives information from the battery on its current state of charge, which is used to determine the available range of the vehicle.

This information is then visualized on the navigation screen, showing the journey against the available range and the routes to the charge stations.

This will help to effectively plan charging and remove drivers’ “range anxiety”, giving them confidence that their journey can be completed. The system also includes an eco-routing – providing the driver with an option to select the most energy efficient route.

In case a stop is needed on the way, the Carminat TomTom Z.E. Live also contains a list of over 5,000 European charging stations, providing information in real-time about the availability of stations so that drivers can stop and ‘fill-up’ when necessary.

The first vehicle to feature the system will be the Renault Fluence Z.E., set to hit the roads later this year in Europe and currently on display at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.

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Answering a deputy’s question in the National Assembly, Besson said 80% of Renault’s electric cars will be produced in France.

Renault and Nissan are jointly investing 4 billion euros ($5.8 billion) in electric vehicle technology as they scramble to take the lead on a technology that Carlos Ghosn, who heads both companies, has said could account for 10 percent of new car sales by 2020.

The French automaker is due to introduce electric versions of the Kangoo multipurpose vehicle and the Fluence sedan in the autumn, while the tiny two-seater Twizy will go on sale later in the year. Production of the Zoe small electric car will start at Flins as planned in the second half of 2012.

Renault recently disclosed it is delaying a planned facility making batteries for electric vehicles, citing a technical adjustment to reformat the project without state financing.

Besson said the plant was supposed to start in 2012 but will be delayed by one year. Renault has said start-up will happen early in 2014.

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DHL has signed a three-year contract to implement a service to coincide with the launch of the first Renault electric cars, Fluence Z.E. and Kangoo Z.E. The three-year deal starts September 1.

The partnership does not include battery logistics for Renault’s alliance partner Nissan Motor Co.

DHL was chosen as Renault’s partner because it could offer a pioneering pan-European solution in the highly demanding field of specialized logistics for the manufacturing and the aftermarket needs of green cars, said Pascal Kemps, DHL’s global strategy director for automotive.

The logistics solution will include the storage of batteries in DHL’s facility in Bonneuil near Paris, the transport of batteries to “Expert Z.E” dealers and importers to countries in Europe and Asia including all major Automotive markets such as Germany, France, Spain and the UK, and the return of used batteries to Renault’s Flins repair center. DHL will control the whole logistics process including order, exception and data management via its specialized Automotive Control Tower in Veghel, Netherlands. Thanks to a specific Renault IT solution, DHL will ensure that each individual battery can be tracked throughout the supply chain.

To manage this sensitive and particular kind of logistics – these batteries weight between 112 kg and 335 kg and have non-standard dimensions – DHL staff including drivers has been specially trained on battery handling and trucks are adapted to the load (specific rails and equipment).

As another element of the cooperation, DHL will add eight more Renault Kangoo Z.E. electric vans to its road test in the Rhine-Ruhr area (Germany), trialing the operational suitability of electric cars for commercial fleet operations. The road test has started in April 2011.

Hertz will be one of the first rental operators to offer Renault’ Twizy, and will also rent the ZOE, Fluence Z.E. and Kangoo Z.E. models.

Hertz plans to add 500 units of the Renault range to its fleet over the next two years across Europe. The partnership will form part of the European development of Hertz’s Global Electric Vehicle Program, launched in December 2010.

During the next few months, Hertz Global EV will leverage the company’s rental and car sharing locations as bases for vehicles and charging stations, and tap into its technology – including sophisticated fleet management tools and the consumer-facing NeverLost GPS system – to help form an EV grid.

The Renault EVs will complement Hertz’s existing Green Collection. All the cars in the Green Collection in Europe can be reserved by make and model, and offer a CO2 output level of less than 140g/km, making them more environmentally friendly than most other cars. The cars in the Collection also achieve 45-65mpg, depending upon vehicle size, so they are also more fuel-efficient.

The deal includes building charging infrastructure and electricity supply, while Ankara will purchase 100 Renault Fluence ZE electric cars in 2011.

A working group will be set up to investigate additional EV projects in Ankara; installing and developing a network of EV charging stations; developing special projects for fleets, public spaces and cities; and analyzing regulations on installing and operating EV charging stations.

Last year Renault announced it would be producing Fluence electric cars, one of its new electric vehicles, at the Bursa plant. Fluence ZE will be the first mass-produced electric car in Turkey.

The MoU is aimed at establishing a partnership to promote and implement electric vehicles in Istanbul, following the example of several other capital cities.

The partnership program will cover the deployment in the Istanbul municipality of a charging network for electric vehicles, which will be launched in 2011, and the rollout of corresponding services and developments.

The parties have decided to launch preliminary work with a view to encouraging the adoption and promotion of electric vehicles – set for launch in 2011 in the Istanbul municipality – in order to reduce CO2 emissions and the effects of climate warming.

A working group will be set up to obtain practical results on implementing an infrastructure for electric vehicle use in the city by 2011. The working group will be tasked with making proposals on:

• multiplying the number of projects that could favor the use of electric vehicles in Istanbul, especially those focused on charging networks,
• installing and developing a network of charging stations for electric vehicles,
• developing special projects for fleets, public spaces and cities,
• analyzing the regulations on installing and operating electric vehicle charging stations.

With its broad range of zero-emission vehicles, Renault is one of the world leaders in the development of electric vehicles.

Turkey plays a key role in this area, since Renault has a very strong position in the country in terms of both production and sales. Last October Renault announced it would be producing Fluence Z.E., one of its new electric vehicles, at the Bursa plant. Fluence Z.E. will be the first mass-produced electric vehicle in Turkey.

This contract runs for several years, and the first model to be made available as a free download during this spring is Renault’s Twizy Z.E electric car.

“This partnership delivers benefits for Renault and the consumer that are unique in today’s media landscape,” said Elizabeth Harz, Senior Vice President of Global Media Sales for EA. “Millions of The Sims 3 players will be able to download Renault concept cars and have a deep experience with the brand, while receiving genuine added gameplay value.”

“The Sims 3 players have demonstrated consistent enthusiasm for bringing cool ‘real world’ brands into their virtual world,” said Steve Seabolt, VP of Global Brand Development for The Sims. “We’re excited to work with Renault on their electric cars and have them available for download for The Sims 3.”

“Electric cars are going to appeal to younger, more socially conscious customers and especially early adopters,” said Stephen Norman, SVP, Global Marketing for the Renault Group. “This is the heartland of The Sims 3 community and it thus provides a great innovative way to build the Renault Brand just ahead of the Renault range of affordable electric cars themselves.”