French state-controlled electricity group Electricite
de France SA (EDF.FR) and Swedish group Volvo AB's (VOLV-B.SK) unit Renault
Trucks Monday announced they signed a partnership to develop the use of
electric lorries and commercial vehicles for the transportation of goods in
urban areas.
MAIN FACTS:
- The aim of this partnership is to share experience
and analysis for the purposes of testing an effective electric solution for
local transport and studying the performance of lithium-ion batteries in this
type of application.
- This collaboration will centre initially on the
Maxity Electric, a light duty vehicle with a payload of 2 tonnes.
- The two partners are leaving open the possibility of
future collaboration on other vehicles in the Renault Trucks range.
- The Maxity Electric is a "zero emission"
and zero sound emission vehicle which can be driven with a category B driving
licence. Its top speed is 90km/h with a maximum torque from zero and a payload
of up to 2 tonnes. Optimisation of the electric engine and regenerative braking
to recharge the batteries help it to reach a range of approximately 100km.
-
Renault Trucks and EDF will engage in information exchanges on energy storage
systems (batteries and super condensers) as well as charging systems (rapid and
normal). EDF will contribute its expertise in analysing the performances of the
batteries used.
- EDF will make its recording and analysis resources available for collecting
the data which will be used to characterise the vehicle's different usage power
consumption profiles, with the aim of optimising the Maxity's efficiency.
- EDF and Renault Trucks will jointly study the various economic models for
marketing the electric vehicle, the better to offer companies, institutions and
local authorities, new and high-performance electric solutions for their urban
and suburban transport needs.