Sir,
For years, millions of motorists have refueled in the small service station of La Défense, one of the busiest in Hauts-de-Seine.
While filling their tank with diesel or unleaded, all they had to do was look up to see the immense Total tower, camped in the heart of the business district.
It is precisely here, at the foot of your head office, that you have chosen to install the first station entirely dedicated to electric vehicles.
While the oil groups are regularly accused of being the biggest polluters on the planet, should this be seen as the symbol of a transition to less fossil fuels or the simple desire to green your image? “Greenwashing” or a real “low carbon” strategy?
The fact is that you have made a commitment to the Ministry of Ecology to increase the charging infrastructure for plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric models. Like other energy groups and supermarket chains, you have signed a charter called “objective 100,000 terminals”. While the French car fleet could include more than a million battery-powered vehicles by 2022, most drivers who plan to swap their gasoline or diesel for a rechargeable model are reluctant to take the plunge for the same reason: fear of breakdown.
If you can't charge your vehicle at home, how can you be sure that you can fill up with electricity on the road when the best batteries do not allow a range of more than 500 or 600 km, at best.
Impossible under these conditions to make a Paris-Nice without having to recharge the batteries.
With no less than 3,500 stations deployed in France and a million customers served every day, TotalEnergies
is in fact a key player in this rapidly growing electric mobility.
The gradual installation of low-emission zones in large cities, prohibited for older diesel and gasoline vehicles, is part of the government's desire to eliminate polluting vehicles in favor of “zero-emission” models.
But it will still be necessary to be able to refuel without risking breakdown in the countryside or in the middle of a motorway ... You have set yourself the objective of installing 150,000 charging points in 2025 in Europe, including more than half in France.
While certain scenarios estimate that European roads will be used by 20% of electric vehicles within ten years and 95% by 2050, have you planned to install charging stations in all your service stations in the long term?
Our readers are impatiently awaiting your response, sir.
Guillaume Larroque's response: "There will be an electric terminal in the vast majority of our stations"
Guillaume Larroque, President of TotalEnergies Marketing France.
DR
The opening this month of the first Total station entirely dedicated to electric vehicles, at the foot of the oil group's headquarters in La Défense (Hauts-de-Seine), had symbolic value. But above all, it marks the launch of a new electrification strategy for the service stations of the French hydrocarbon giant. President of TotalEnergies Marketing France, Guillaume Larroque affirms that "there will indeed be at least one electric terminal in the vast majority of our stations".
The company even set a very precise timetable. “Regarding very high power recharging (> 175 kW), we are already equipping 300 of our service stations in France, including 200 on motorways and national roads,” explains Guillaume Larroque. While some will continue to offer fuel in parallel, around 100 will be 100% electric, especially in large cities and future EPZs
(Editor's note:
low emission zones
)
”.
In 2025, the company estimates that a TotalEnergies station every 150 km will be equipped with very high power terminals, which will restore a range of 350 to 400 km in 20 minutes for compatible vehicles.
Too long a recharging period, will object the owners of plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric.
“No, because that's exactly the average break time in our motorway stations,” replied Guillaume Larroque.
The company thus intends to respond to the commitment it has signed with other energy companies and large-scale distribution managers with the Ministry of Ecology to deploy “100,000 terminals” in France.
“By the end of 2021, already more than 20,000 terminals in France will be operated by TotalEnergies, and more than 75,000 in 2025”, explains Guillaume Larroque.
To read also "Total has the ambition to be in the world Top 5 producers of renewable energies"
“If the service station has always been the only distribution point for traditional fuels, the electric vehicle is turning this habit upside down,” he admits.
To the point that the French oil giant has decided to support "companies that want to install terminals for their employees or their company cars, to develop partnerships with operators and owners of car parks or, as is the case with 100% renewable electricity for the Bélib 'network of the City of Paris, to equip or modernize public recharging networks alongside local authorities ”.