Retrofit, the government's new card to accelerate the electrification of the French fleet?
According to the recent decrees signed by the Ministries of Energy Transition, Industry and Transport on October 24, this seems the case.
These aim to facilitate the approval of vehicles whose thermal engine is replaced by an electric unit.
In detail, like cars, utility vehicles, even industrial vehicles, special vehicles, such as ambulances, tow trucks, camper vans, can be retrofitted.
One of the decrees also includes more administrative flexibility in the conversion not only to electricity, but also to other energies such as LPG, NG, even hybridization of all kinds, without forgetting hydrogen.
Because even if this market is struggling to take off, the stakes are enormous.
Particularly on utilities.
“Out of a fleet of forty million vehicles in France, six million are utility vehicles,”
says Frédéric Strady
,
director of the company Qinomic
.
And of this volume, it is estimated that three million will be impacted by the deployment of low-emission zones (ZFEs).”
Because for retrofit players, the main market does not relate to private vehicles whose technological solutions and economic equation still remain to be proven, but rather to utility vehicles.
“We provide an alternative solution to the new vehicle, much cheaper, which allows us to give new life to vehicles that are ultimately condemned to no longer being able to circulate in the city
,” underlines Wadie Maaninou, co-founder of Tolv.
Especially since sales of electric utility vehicles are struggling to take off.
At the end of October, they oscillated between 5% and 7%, with very large disparities depending on the model.
The main reason?
The price.
Qinomic, which recently signed an industrial partnership with the Stellantis group to convert Peugeot Experts or Citroën Jumpys to electric, promises a transformation - aid included - around 12,000 to 15,000 euros.
For its part, Tolv is working closely with Renault on the Master and announces a retrofit of 20,000 euros.
That is far from the 35,000 to 60,000 euros excluding tax (excluding bonuses) requested by manufacturers for these new equivalents.
According to the two companies, the transformation is profitable after five years of use, the savings being made on energy and maintenance items.
Read alsoBercy overwhelmed by the astonishing success of social leasing
An alternative to the new vehicle
Frédéric Strady points out that
“the retrofit does not compete with a new vehicle, but it makes it possible to “produce” used electric vehicles, an offer that does not exist today.”
With an average range of 200 km, this technology covers 80% of the needs of utility vehicle drivers.
“Our target customers are users who travel 40,000 to 60,000 km per year, but always in an urban or peri-urban area
,” emphasizes Wadie Maaninou.
“We are targeting both major accounts and artisans,”
continues Frédéric Strady
.
By retrofitting part of their fleet, long-term rental companies give a second life to their vehicles and make electric more accessible to companies that do not have the means to implement a CSR policy.
For craftsmen, who often have a bodied or fitted utility vehicle, retrofitting allows them to keep it for longer.”
The retrofit does not compete with a new vehicle, but it makes it possible to “produce” used electric vehicles, an offer that does not exist today.
Frédéric Strady, CEO of Qinomic
And the slowdown in the deployment of ZFEs does not seem to be a hindrance for these retrofitters.
“It’s almost an opportunity for us because it will allow us to offer even more mature solutions
,” says Wadie Maaninou.
Because their ambitions are quite important.
Tolv plans to convert 1,000 Renault Masters between 2024 and 2025 and is targeting 30,000 retrofitted vehicles by the end of the decade.
“We recondition them at the Renault Refactory plant in Flins (78)
,” explains Wadie Maaninou.
For its part, during 2024, the vehicles retrofittable by Qinomic will be collected by Stellantis and then transformed,
“which requires two weeks of downtime”
, specifies Frédéric Strady.
They will then be sold in the network with a new approval and a new registration document.
Qinomic also plans to market its transformation kit directly and for utilities from other brands.
Car manufacturers are not the only ones to be very interested in these start-ups.
The bodybuilder Gruau has just signed with Rev Mobilities, another French retrofit player.