Renault Targets US Electric Car Partner for France

Renault SA is set to bring in Better Place, its US partner, in order to run its planned electric car charging system in its base market in France. Aside from the Electricite de France SA’s recharging stations, the country seriously needs to Cali.-based startup company’s battery-swapping idea to maximize the demand for electric cars. Sources have said that they really feel that Better Place is the only option right now, and that they’d love to have the idea extend to France, too.

The company says that beginning in 2012, Renault electric car owners in Denmark and Israel will be able to use Better Place’s stations to swap out drained batteries for fresh ones in 3 minutes. This would effectively extend the “life” of the car beyond a single charge. In France itself, their government has elected a state-owned company (EDF) to also come out with a recharging system to eliminate a possible monopoly.

Renault and Nissan have committed to attributing 6 billion bucks into the electric cars and batteries that they expect to begin selling in 2012. An additional 2 billion has been given by France’s government in order to stimulate a demand for the electric model cars.

The companies hope that these recharging stations will eliminate the “uncomfortable range syndrome”. On one charge, someone can expect to get 100 miles max. This could be a problem for anyone who has to commute long distances, whether it be to work or to see family. However, if you have a station you can just stop in on and swap batteries – no more difficult than refueling with gas.

While many people, both in the industry and not, still have mixed feelings about the cars and how and if they will work in the general population, the companies are still determined to get them out and rolling in 2012. Personally I’m very much looking forward to it, as it seems like it’ll be a much cheaper alternative in the long run. Who doesn’t like saving a bit of green, as they say?