France announces 14-point plan for the development of electric vehicles and rechargeable hybrids

Saturday, October 03, 2009

The French government has released a 14-point plan to that effect here, with a few pretty vague points (point 2 is something about "integrating non-carbon vehicles in new mobility solutions"??) but thankfully some very specific ones as well. The most interesting ones are:

#5 - 5000 euros until 2012 for those purchasing vehicles with CO2 emissions under 60 g/km. Hybrids with CO2 emissions equal to or under 135 g receive a bonus of 2000 euros. The first electric vehicles are due to go on the market in France at the end of 2010.

#7 - outlets in new buildings. Starting in 2012 new houses and buildings will require outlets in parking spaces. Being able to create the infrastructure for recharging the vehicles this easily is a big plus in getting electric vehicles accepted.

#9 - outlets at the workplace and public infrastructure by 2015. This is similar to #7 except that it applies to existing buildings and thus gives a few more years to comply.

The other points have to do with supporting battery development, normalizing a price for electricity, and finding non-fossil fuel sources for electricity since the electricity for the electric vehicles will still need to be created somewhere. There is also a pdf accompanying the press release that features a few pictures of upcoming electric vehicles in France, and one of the images show two vehicles that show pretty clearly the right way and the wrong way to design an electric vehicle. The first one is a nice enough design and could be mistaken for a gasoline-powered car. The second one...well, it's a monstrosity that your average consumer would not be caught dead in. They're both from the same company though.

The first one is the Renault Fluence ZE,

The Twizy admittedly looks a bit better in this video and perhaps it will sell if it happens to be exceptionally cheap. It's comes across almost like a four-wheel scooter with an interior.

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