The French car rental and supermarket operator E.Leclerc has just ordered a whopping 3,000 Dacia Spring Electric and 1,000 Renault Zoe. One of the group’s goals is to offer the new Dacia Spring Electric in all 504  E.Leclerc rental outlets from 1 March 2021.

In a former coal-fired power plant in Elverlingsen, Germany, a new stationary battery storage system made up of of electric car batteries has been put into operation. The project was jointly developed by Renault, the technology company The Mobility House and the electricity storage system expert Fenecon.

Initially, Poland had planned start spending a lavish purchase premium of 8,600 euros for low-cost electric cars from December. Then the country postponed the subsidy indefinitely for a short time. Nevertheless, e-car registrations are rising – a placebo effect?

It turns out that from Renault’s Zoe delivery to Australia, more than 90% of the vehicles were damaged in transit due to an oil spill on the transport vessel. It seems that the road to electrification is slippery indeed.

The Lithuanian electric car-sharing service Spark has officially launched in Romania with a deployment of 50 cars in Bucharest. The fleet consists of Nissan Leafs and Renault Zoes.

Japanese conglomerate Sumitomo that does everything from mining to managing grocery stores is taking on a new venture, electric car sharing. Not only is this a new field for them, the Tokyo-based company also chose one of the world’s toughest sharing markets – Sweden.

After a slight decline in plug-in sales in previous months, France has fully recovered at the start of spring with sales across all segments on the up. To be precise, EV sales in particular have reached a high that was hitherto unseen.

Renault has announced to end their battery lease scheme in France this April for good. The scheme had been set up combining a leasing model with every regular purchase of the Zoe compact EV but had gradually changed from 2016.

Electric and plug-in hybrid car registrations have crossed the 40,000 unit milestone in France. The latest data from Avere shows growth in all segments this November.

30 Renault Zoe have arrived in the Swedish capital where cab provider Taxi Stockholm is working to electrify its fleet. The entire charging infrastructure has been provided by utility E.On and includes the provision of electricity from renewables.
eon.com

Video tip: EVs make the world a better place, right? Not for all, as Renault demonstrates with this latest Zoe spot starring a dog eagerly expecting his owner with perked ears. Only the Zoe arrives silently without the canine noticing, so zero noise is not great for everyone…
video.buffer.com

Click tip: Ludicrous mode may be fun, but there are more practical things to consider when choosing between a Tesla Model S or X. Like cargo space, for example. The conclusions drawn from this thorough comparative report are unexpected at times.
teslarati.com

Renault sold 30,000 Zoe worldwide since it introduced its dedicated EV in 2012. While not a small number, it is almost dwarfed when compared to the Nissan Leaf, which can be found close to 200,000 times on the globe (sales stood at 172,000 in May) and has been around since 2010.
insideevs.com

Nearly 5,000 Renault Zoe have been sold this year in France already, meaning the carmaker profited most from the scrappage scheme for diesel cars. French government bodies as well as the countries postal service are also fans of Renault’s EV.
wiwo.de (in German), tf1.fr (in French)

More than 1500 hp, 0-248 mph in under 20 seconds – meet the Koenigsegg Regera, unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show. The hybrid system of this Swedish hyper sports car combines a V8-engine with three electric motors which sign for 515 kW alone. The battery system comes from Rimac and is said to be the world’s most power-dense to date. However, only 80 units of the super hybrid will be built.
gtspirit.com, techeblog.com, pistonheads.com, electricautosport.com (Rimac battery)

Zoe gets increased range: Renault has issued an upgrade for the Zoe which boosts its range by about 30 km to 240 kilometres. Inside the new Zoe, a more compact and lighter electric motor called R240 together with an optimised electronic management system are said to work wonders. The motor also features a new Caméléon system which allows faster charging at home (3 kW and 11 kW).
insideevs.com, transportevolved.com, autovolt-magazine.com

Tires reloaded: Goodyear showcases a concept tire in Geneva that produces energy – the BH03 transforms heat created when it rolls into electrical energy. However, the concept tire will not get to market anytime soon but will serve as a base for future innovations.
prnewswire.com

Concept EV from India: Tata Motors brought the ConnectNext concept to Geneva. The five-seater electric car comes without a B-pillar for flexibility on the inside while boasting technologies like screens for the rear passengers or cameras instead of mirrors.
indianautosblog.com, tatamotors.com (pdf)

– Feedback –

Most clicked link on Tuesday was Nissan´s ‘Ultimate Smart BBQ Vehicle’, which is based on the all-electric van e-NV200.
electriccarsreport.com

Video tip 1: “I made the Switch” is the name of a new campaign introducing Renault-Nissan drivers and their electric cars. Starring in today’s episode is Séverin Groisne from Paris and her beloved Zoe.
youtube.com (French with English subtitles) via ecomento.tv

Video tip 2: A video of the first FE School Series, which took part as a side event during the Formula E’s stop in Argentina, has now been released. 11 to 16-year-old school children present and race their self-build electric cars. The event will also take place during Formula E’s upcoming races.
youtube.com via electricautosport.com

Police, fire fighters to go electric: A five million pound government scheme in the UK aims to increase the use of ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEV). Now, police, fire fighters and NHS could apply for grants to electrify parts of their fleets. Some 200 plug-ins are expected to hit the road amid this next phase of the scheme.
businessgreen.com, fleetnews.co.uk

Rapid-charger in Cornwall: As of Friday, Britain’s South will also be connected to Electric Highway. The fast-charger at the Cornwall Services site in Victoria has a Type 2, as well as a CHAdeMO connector. For members of the Electric Highway, charging is free.
evfleetworld.co.uk

Zoe sets record at home: A record total of 1,182 Renault Zoe were registered in France in December, bringing the number of total sales there to 5,970. That is an increase of 8.3 percent compared to 2013 and means, more than half of all EVs sold in France last year were Renault Zoe.
insideevs.com, generation-nt.com (in French)

Supercharger vs CHAdeMO: The former wins 884 to 776 in terms of charging points in the U.S. However, there are still more CHAdeMO stations, as Superchargers generally count more connectors. Moreover, Tesla has another 500 so-called destination chargers (not Superchargers), located at hotels or other points of interest.
cleantechnica.com (charge points), insideevs.com (destination chargers)

Reading tip: For a change, this coast to coast trip has not been made in a Tesla and has not crossed the USA. Instead, Eddie Cunningham drove a Renault Zoe from Dublin to Galway and back. In Ireland, charging does appear to be a bit more adventurous than in the supercharged States.
independent.ie

Click tip: BMW’s special edition of the i8 has been auctioned off for 825,000 dollars at the Concours d’ Elegance at Pebble Beach this weekend. That is about six times the asking prices but guarantees the buyer a “one-of-a-kind” hybrid super car.
electriccarsreport.com