This article is part of our “Les focuses de franceinfo” operation, which highlights key topics that are little covered in the presidential campaign: the cost of housing, the public hospital crisis, the taboo of mental health and the carbon footprint of transport.
“You will be disappointed with the sound!”, says Arnaud Pigounidès, founding president of REV Mobilities, all smiles as he settles into his Peugeot 504 coupé dating from 1971. Inside, we take a leap back in time. Except that under the hood, no heat engine. Instead, electric batteries. And we only hear one thing: silence. “You are in a car that is 51 years old and will live another 50 years thanks to the electric, with the fishing of the electriche enthuses. And the fact that it’s emission-free, so you can drive it every day without risking polluting the air in cities.”
The Peugeot may have a few years under the hood, it starts on time, with a range of 180 to 200 km. But the vehicle is currently only a prototype. It does not have authorization to drive: currently, only four models (the 2CV, the 2CV van, the 103 and the solex) are homologated. “The initiatives are now being taken with a view to homologation within a few months and it is undoubtedly at the end of the year or at the beginning of next year that we will see a greater volume of vehicles appear, undoubtedly utilities at the startexplains Olivier Marchegay, CEO of the REV Mobilities group. So you will see ‘retrofitted’ vehicles on city streets in 2023, with the surprise of seeing vehicles that traditionally make diesel noise no longer make noise thanks to electric motors.”
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The practice has been authorized in France since April 4, 2020 and reduces its greenhouse gas emissions. To “retrofit” your vehicle, you have to count between 15 and 20,000 euros, which is half the price of a Renault Zoé bought new. This can be supplemented by state aid. Since June 1, 2020, the electric retrofit has been eligible for a bonus paid by the State, which can go up to 5,000 euros.
The REV Mobilities company targets three markets: old cars, commercial vehicle fleets – i.e. 6 million commercial vehicles transformed by new and retrofitting in the coming years – and a truck and bus division . Its ambition: to “retrofit” 20,000 vehicles over the next three years, which would save more than 120,000 tonnes of CO2, according to the company. “For the passenger car today, the problem there is, to be honest, is that retrofitting is still expensive, like electric is still expensive.believes Arnaud Pigounidès. You take the difference between a diesel Clio at 18,000 euros and a Zoé at 32,000 euros, it’s 14,000 euros, which is equivalent to the weight and volume of the batteries to have sufficient autonomy.
“Today, for passenger vehicles, we do not yet feel the market turning around. It will happen in 4 to 5 years, once we have already made good progress in all the most important sectors: craftsmen, transport, logistics and also all the most polluting vehicles.”
Arnaud Pigounidès, founding president of REV Mobilitiesat franceinfo
But for the boss of REV Mobilities, these are future savings. “The price per kilometer of electric is three times cheaper than gasoline, and maybe even four times cheaper in the next few months because gasoline is only increasinghe points. You therefore save money throughout the life of the electric vehicle by having prepaid batteries which save you money. You see the pattern, it’s quite virtuous.”
But retrofitting isn’t just for classic car enthusiasts. “Technically, we can ‘retrofit’ all vehiclesassures Aymeric Libeau, founder of Transition-One, a start-up which transforms vehicles, from the fiat 500 to the Twingo 2 via the Clio 3. What matters is how you want to use it. The retrofit does not allow to have 500 km of autonomy because we will reuse the volumes that have been released. Car manufacturers are showing us today that there is a race for autonomy. But are we really going to use this autonomy as often as we think?
“Today, we have more than 10,000 vehicle retrofit requests from France, but also from other European countries and other countries around the world. We will be placing our orders at the end of the year and we can now see that there is a real interest in this type of solution.”
Aymeric Libeau, founder of Transition-Oneat franceinfo
The retrofit sector wishes to tackle the bus fleets of communities but also the vehicles of craftsmen, directly impacted by the Low Emission Zones (ZFE) which will be set up on December 31, 2024 in all agglomerations of more than 150,000 inhabitants. . Vehicles with Crit’Air stickers 5 and 4, i.e. the oldest diesels, will be banned. “It’s 43% of the fleet of utilities that will no longer be able to circulate”is alarmed Arnaud Pigounidès who recognizes that the demand “is extremely strong” about utilities. “It’s going to be horrible for the craftsmen and so they’re very interested in being able to change the engine of their vehicles that they use every day, that they have pampered and fitted out. It’s a superb saving for them, so we have an application that is mind-boggling on usefulness.”
At REV mobilities, the order book is growing: more than 2,000 orders. “We have a partnership with a mutual association of craftsmen and food professionals, MAPA, which shows that there is real success, a real desire to transform and above all, it saves money.”
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The retrofit corresponds to a 66% reduction in greenhouse gases, up to 87% on buses. This solution seems to make all the more sense as Europe will ban the sale of thermal vehicles from 2035, before their complete ban in 2050. “We can’t throw away 260 million vehiclesloose Sébastien Rolo, boss of Lormauto in Lisieux (Calvados), we cannot achieve the objectives of neutrality by going exclusively through a renewal of the fleet, it is not socially acceptable to throw everything away.” His startup recovers old Twingos to “retrofit” them. Its approval should arrive in the coming months.
“260 million cars, if you pile them on top of each other, that’s exactly the Earth-Moon distance.”
Sébastien Rolo, owner of Lormautoat franceinfo
“One thing is certain, importing electric vehicles made in Asia, it only feeds the economy of these countrieshe continues. When we import a Chinese car rebadged under a French brand, we certainly did things for the French brand, but above all we paid workers who work very, very far from home.
“You can imagine that garage owners, all those automotive professionals who are close to customers, will lose 30 to 50% of their business with the electric car.rebounds Aymeric Libeau. The retrofit produces locally and allows these automotive professionals to find a new activity.”
The retrofit is on the program of several presidential candidates. While the environmental candidate Yannick Jadot is proposing the transformation of one million vehicles, Valérie Pécresse made it her hobbyhorse in September 2020 as president of the Île-de-France region, and wishes today, as Les Républicains candidate, develop the sector. On the side of the Socialist Party, in her program, Anne Hidalgo wishes to strengthen “aid for the acquisition of electric vehicles and for retrofitting through the creation of a zero-interest loan for sustainable mobility.” An incentive to retrofit which also features in the program of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who also wishes “reinforce the conversion bonus.”
“Right now not a day goes by without the retrofit being mentioned in the national mediawelcomes Amaury Lafonta, commercial director of REV Mobilities. And if it’s not retrofitting, it’s forms of aid for households for accessibility to electricity which, in fact, for which retrofitting is an excellent solution.”
The AIRe association, which brings together 15 companies specializing in retrofitting in France, even offers a retrofitting plan, one week before the first round. There are ten proposals, from the establishment of support equivalent to that of the 6,000 euros paid for new cars, to support for the sector in its communication with the general public, support for the sector in its actions to industrialization, up to assistance with approvals.
The objective for the sector: to produce more than two million conversions before 2032. “We have more than 40 million cars in the fleet, even if we had 100% of the vehicles sold in electric, it would take more than 20 years to decarbonize the existing fleetbelieves Stéphane Wimez, co-president of the AIRe association. And so, we are a complementary approach.” Arnaud Pigounidès concludes: “We will participate in it for it to happen, maybe between 15 and 20 years. It’s great news for our lungs, for our ears, for driving comfort too, and then, good news for our wallets too.”