Renault announced its plans to set up charging stations across Europe. The first charging station is set to be open in a few months in Southern France. It will be followed by 200 more by mid-2024 in Belgium, France, Spain, and Italy. They are in talks with potential partners to finance the network.
Rolling out an adequate charging infrastructure and offering motorists convenient solutions when traveling is one fo the main challenges faced by producers of electric vehicles. As batteries generally offer less driving radius than fuel tanks and take much longer to recharge. Renault whose share price value has declined almost 70% since early 2018, is far from being a leader in the European electric vehicles market. But the company is pushing ahead with plans to split its EV and combustion engine businesses ina bid to compete with rivals such as newcomer Tesla and German giant Volkswagen in the race to electric driving.
The new charging stations will be installed at Renault dealerships located close to the motorway exists with dedicated spaces where drivers can rest during the average half-hour charging period. They will be accessible around the clock and offer a lounge, playing corners for children, and refreshments. To avoid the need to install a new power grid infrastructure, Mobilise said it would use a stationary storage system the size of a small container that is capable of charging up to six regular cars of any make at the same time. Head of Mobilize Power Solutions, Nicolas Schottey said, ” This will allow us to charge these containers very gently, without disrupting the power grid.”
Charging network
Tesla has been rolling out high-performance superchargers for years and has a global network of about 30,000 fast chargers that it says can give a 200km (125 miles) boost in 15 minutes. Volkswagen expects its network of fast-chargers to nearly quadruple to about 45,000 by 2025 with 18,000 EV pumps in Europe, 17,000 in China, and 10,000 in North America.
On its website, “We offer connected services that help you manage your driving range. You can also manage your driving range remotely with the My Renault app you can check the charge level and driving range of your Renault E-Tech vehicle, its current progress when charging, and your recent charge history in real-time no matter where you are.”
In reference to maximizing range, the company wrote,”The most important factor is your driving style. To increase the driving range and make the most of regenerative braking, you should adopt eco-driving behavior: think ahead, use the engine brake, drive sensibly, etc.”