El Renault Group has reached an agreement with the French company Phoenix Mobility to develop a conversion kit that can be used in the commercial combustion vehicles and thus transform them into vehicles fully electricFor the pilot experience, both companies have decided to work with Renault Master, for which a kit will be created that replaces the traditional propulsion system with one based on a battery and an electric motor.
Phoenix Mobility is a French company BRAND in the call Vehicle retrofitting, that is, has extensive experience in giving a second commercial life to “updated” models, which they hope to achieve with Master vans that take advantage of the own technology employed by Renault in their current electric vehicles, which will serve as the basis for the creation of the “zero emissions” kits. The objective is to achieve economic and environmental advantages, since it is proposed as a cheaper solution to creating an electric car from scratch.
On sale at the end of 2023
El set to install in the Renault van should be on the market before the end of 2023, that is, within a year and a half, according to the agreement reached by both companies. The diamond brand wants to sell and install around 1.000 of these packages from that date, with a pre-information campaign to the owners of a Master's degree on the and advantages to incorporate that electrical kit.
Renault wants to take advantage of the experience of its Re-Factory located in Flins, northwest of Paris, for the production of the kits, since it should not be forgotten that this facility is oriented to rehabilitate the “most worn out” electric models and give a new life for batteriesIt is a factory completely oriented towards recycling and circular economy, which will be followed by a second Re-Factory installed in Spain.
More “adapted” electric vans
The Renault Group wants to renew More than 10.000 electric cars per year in these facilities and is now looking for a second way with the transformation of the commercial vehicles with combustion engines, since after the arrival of the kit for the Master, they will be created More “zero emissions” packages for other vansPhoenix Mobility will oversee business operations as it has a wide experience in the aftermarket B2B-Profile.
Although the project is initially launched in France, the Renault Group wants to position itself as a pioneer consortium in the development of this innovative solution, since at present no manufacturer has proposed something similar and the French manufacturer sees it as “an alternative with great potential”.
Renault's commercial vehicle division is already marketing a Electrical Master, which will also shed light on the transformations of the diesel versions using a kit. And Renault Trucks also has for sale a Master ZE and a autonomy about 200 km, but the truck division was purchased years ago by Volvo, although they maintain some technological agreements and agreements on certain commercial names with the French brand.