Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ernments: Israël, Denmark, Portugal, California,
Hawaï, Ontario, etc.
First EV cars are planned to be sold in 2011 in
Israël where infrastructures and networks are to be
installed and managed by Better Place by 2011.
Through those investments in EV, Renault-Nissan
is aiming at becoming the first car manufacturer
which offers 100% EV massively.
Much more than mastering the technology,
Renault-Nissan will be able to apprehend the whole
value chain from car conception and manufactur-
ing to its use by customer:
their value chain, may discover new kinds
of competitors, and may capture new kind
of profit either with technology, either with
infrastructure.
Car Industry Transformation
Involves a New Conception of
Mobility and City Deployment
The first step to envisage carbon transition within
car industry consisted in investing in new technolo-
gies and in showing it. With EV, HEV and other
kinds of car models, technological solutions are
highly diverse. The diversity of potential tech-
nological solutions makes risks higher for actors
that would choose to specialise on one technology.
Different ways have been explored to prevent
from taking inconsiderable risks:
•
Whereas with internal combustion engine,
close partnership with oil industry was key
to innovate, with electric car, new relations
with new partners should be create. The
most innovative point of Renault-Nissan
EV project does not lie in technology but
in innovative partnerships with battery
providers, utilities, government, etc.
•
Diversifying investments as German car
manufacturers do: Volkswagen, Daimler,
and BMW.
•
Whereas with internal combustion engine,
a customer need to go to an oil station more
or less regularly, with EV projects a driver
would dispose of several options to re-
load power according to the use of the car.
Renault-Nissan is to develop three ways
to reload one's own EV: “We're looking
at three possibilities. First, recharging at
home, or “standard” recharge, taking from
four to eight hours. The best time to do
this is at night, so the next morning your
car is fully charged and ready to go. The
second possibility is taking your car to a
rapid recharge station, where recharges
will take 20 to 30 minutes. The third op-
tion is an original by Renault, consisting
of battery exchange stations called “quick-
drop”. It will be a little like driving into
an automatic car wash, only the machine
will remove your car's battery and replace
it with another. And in three minutes you
have a fully charged battery”. It appears
•
Investing in one technology
18
, mainly like
Renault, which has focused on 100% EV
technologies, and Nissan that has been tar-
geting ino-lithium battery since 1982. And
then, find a partner to cooperate and pick-
up the optimal solution (that is what both
of them do since 1999).
•
Focusing on a technology that is little in-
vestigated by others, as Honda is doing
with hydrogen. In 2008, Honda proposed
a first vehicle based on hydrogen, FCX
Clarity, in California and Japan.
In all cases, the need for cooperation appears
in the long-term to satisfy customers and enable
inter-operability. The European Commission is-
sued a Green Car initiative in late 2009 to avoid
that car manufacturers lower their investments
in green car during the economic down-turn,
to incentivise them to invest in smart-grids for
electricity distribution, to facilitate credits from
banks and risks-sharing with partners.
