"Radical solution" needed to get EVs powered up and on the roads
Friday, October 1, 2010 at 10:59AM
By Helen Massy-Beresford and Gilles Guillaume
PARIS (Reuters) - Top automakers finally have electric cars ready to purr into dealer showrooms. Now the question is whether the charging infrastructure and electricity supply are up to the task.
Industry watchers question if power grids can cope with the influx of electric vehicles, even though EVs are likely to remain, at least at first, a fraction of the new car market.
But as CO2 emissions rules tighten, carmakers need to take action. "We need a radical solution," Renault and Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said at the Paris Auto Show.
Renault, which with alliance partner Nissan is investing 4 billion euros ($5.5 billion) in electric cars, strengthened on Friday its EV partnership with French utility EDF.
At Renault's stand displaying the Fluence and Kangoo EVs and the electric Dezir concept car, the partners launched pilot projects on battery management and charging infrastructure.
EDF CEO Henri Proglio said he was confident of having the capacity to meet electricity needs of EVs.
He laughed off questions about whether EDF planned to increase prices to take advantage of extra demand at night -- when most drivers are expected to re-charge their cars.
"There will be tariffs that, on the contrary, allow customers to benefit from off-peak hours. There are no plans to optimize the company's P&L by increasing prices," he said.
POWER PITFALLS
Carmakers are counting on EVs to help give them a leg up in markets that remain patchy, as September sales figures confirmed.
Ghosn said on Thursday his forecast that an EV would be one of every 10 new car sold by 2020 was now "conservative."
Many manufacturers and analysts see much smaller demand.
PSA Peugeot Citroen forecasts EVs and hybrids -- which yoke electric motors to traditional engines -- will account altogether for 15 percent of the new car market in 2020.
Dominique Maillard, head of French electricity grid RTE, told Reuters before the show that if large numbers of drivers chose not to charge up overnight there could be problems.
"This new (EV) demand will help fill up and balance the network during off-peak periods," he said.
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