2023-05-07 10:23:48
A first roundabout, a second, and here is the pickup out of the activity zone surrounded by mountains. Powerful, silent acceleration. Very few vibrations, at least until the vehicle, more accustomed to snowy tracks, engages on a dirt road, in 4 × 4 mode, to split the countryside in sheaves of mud. This Toyota Hilux, owned by a ski resort, is still in the test phase after its retrofit, its conversion from thermal to electric, subject to the conservation of its structure and the transmission system.
This process, which the government encourages, is Retrofleet’s core business. In his Savoyard headquarters, the atmosphere is both tech start-up and small car industry. Part of the premises is reserved for the assembly, by hand, of battery cells in boxes. “A technology that is essential to develop in-house to control costs and data”underlines Emmanuel Flahaut, former engineer of the Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies, co-founder and CEO of Retrofleet.
These same batteries can be found on several vehicles parked a stone’s throw away: a Renault Master van, a rickshaw destined for India, where it will facilitate logistics, but also an imposing Iveco Crossway coach for which Retrofleet has just passed a successful first phase of certification.
This vehicle, entrusted by Transdev, has six years of service and 200,000 kilometers on the odometer. But it is like new and will soon resume school bus service in Touraine. “If necessary, we could have changed the steering wheel, added an on-board screen or even diffused a smell of new inside,” explains Emmanuel Flahaut.
150 kilometers of autonomy is enough for a school bus
The old one-and-a-half-ton heat engine has given way to a quarter-ton electric cousin, an almost cubic all-in-one box, about fifty centimeters on a side. This frees up space for four of the twelve 192 kilowatt-hour battery packs, the others being housed in the hold.
While manufacturers apply the adage “Who can do more can do less”Retrofleet adjusts battery life and recharging speed to usage. “A hundred and fifty kilometers of autonomy is enough for a school bus, raises the creator of the company. And it can be recharged with modest power at night and during the day, when the students are at school. »
Tailor-made makes it possible to reduce costs, as does remote management of charging, with software, to avoid overstressing the batteries and extending their lifespan. In a second phase, Retrofleet will also install solar electricity production units at customers who wish to do so, allowing vehicles to be recharged at low cost.
Two to three times cheaper than a new electric vehicle
Retrofleet offers companies or local authorities the opportunity to buy back their vehicles of an approved model, to change the engines and then to make them available to them by leasing or with a financial lease. A single conversion kit – including the engine, “with a lifespan that can exceed one million kilometres” – may, if necessary, be disassembled and then reassembled on another vehicle.
The retrofit, which requires a two-week operation for a truck, a week for a van, is a little cheaper than buying a new thermal vehicle, two to three times cheaper than buying a a new electric vehicle.
A young start-up that thinks big
“For the time being, it is only viable for coaches (in circulation for about thirty years), for construction machinery, for heavy goods vehicles and vans, utilities whose layout (refrigerated trucks, vehicles spares, market vans, etc.) is almost as expensive as buyingexplains Emmanuel Flahaut. But once mass-produced, batteries will see their cost drop. » The retrofit will then become relevant for other ranges of lighter vehicles such as the Clio car.
Little by little, in any case, the Retrofleet book is filling up, with five other cars to be “retrofitted” and 20 pre-orders. After only two years of existence, the company, allied with coachbuilders, is thinking big, with headquarters in Paris, a secondary establishment in Gironde and a subsidiary in the North. “This is where Verkor, with whom we have signed a letter of intent, is preparing to open a gigafactory of batteries, raises the creator. This is where a part of the electric revolution is played out for the automobile. »
——–
State support for retrofitting
The average cost of retrofitting a personal vehicle is between €15,000 and €20,000. The State grants natural persons a bonus of up to €6,000. For a heavyweight, you have to pay at Retrofleet 170,000 €. But it is possible to obtain up to €100,000 in subsidies within the framework of calls for projects. The State has a budget of 20 million euros to support the retrofit.
Since January, it is no longer necessary to own a vehicle for at least a year to benefit from conversion aid. A professional can therefore buy and “retrofit” cars, vans or heavy goods vehicles with the aim of reselling them. In May, the government will launch a public consultation that should lead to “additional technical and administrative flexibilities”.
#give #life #electric #mode #utility #vehicles