14 DAY TRIAL // France President Nicolas Sarkozy and the French government are determined to see the individual transportation system go green, as they invested 400 million Euros ($549 million) in this regard. This will allow for more than a decent start for car-making companies like Renault and Peugeot-Citroen.
Following the announcements made by Renault SA and PSA Peugeot-Citroen car companies related to their individual agreements with the government-owned Electricite de France (EdF) company, President Sarkozy expressed his interest in seeing cars shifting to electrical and hybrid powering systems. As he stated during his visit at the Paris Auto Show, the funds that come from the amounts previously allocated to environment-related projects are destined “exclusively for the research and development of nonpolluting vehicles”. The president encourages the other European countries to do the same for their vehicles by using funds from the European Investment Bank.
Peugeot-Citroen's collaboration with EdF aims to help the development of electric vehicles and of plug-in hybrids, while Renault's partnership focuses on the enhancement of a charging infrastructure. EdF holds the largest fleet of electric vehicles in the world and is undergoing development and test phases (the latter on Toyota Motor Corporation's Prius in UK) for a “smart” recharging terminal. This will be able to identify cars, allowing for the drivers to be taxed irrespectively to where they perform the recharge. The demands for such green transportation devices register a noticeable increase, but there is much to do until they can be successfully satisfied. Still, there are worries related to the whole process, mostly focused on the powering battery issues, like the lack of charging infrastructure, or their weight and immense costs problems. The partnership between Renault-Nissan and countries like France, Denmark, Israel, Portugal, Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture and the Tennessee state in US will enable them to sell electric cars starting with 2011.