Renault reaffirms commitment to EVs despite partnering tech service company filing for bankruptcy

By Marcus Amick May 29, 2013

The bankruptcy of the electric battery exchange company, Better Place, doesn’t seem to be deterring Renault’s plans for electric cars.

According to published reports, despite the French carmaker’s partnership with the Israeli-based company, Renault still seems as committed as ever to EVs.

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Gilles Normand, Renault’s Asia-Pacific director, told Reuters Renault’s venture with Better Place only represented one percent of the carmaker’s electric car volume.

“Which means that it’s not at all a case of bringing our electric strategy into question,” Normand said.

According to Reuters, Renault-Nissan alliance chief, Carlos Ghosn, has invested more of the companies’ cash into electric vehicle technology than any other mass-market carmaker betting on a growing demand for EVs, especially in China.

Launched last year, Better Place enabled customers to buy the 2012 Renault Fluence ZE (the only vehicle offered) and lease the battery pack from the company, as indicated in an article by Green Car Reports.

Under the business model, customers paid a set fee for up to a certain number of miles or kilometers covered annually, recharging the cars on charging stations installed at their homes and businesses by Better Place as well as on a network of public charging spots.

For longer trips, customers were directed to a switching station where they could swap out a depleted battery pack for a freshly charged one using an automated machine, which was seen as major benefit in helping to address concerns about an electric vehicle’s range when traveling longer distances.

The service attracted about 2,000 users when in operation, according to Green Car Reports.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Marcus Amick has been writing about the world of cars for more than ten years and has covered everything from new automobiles…

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Unveiled Thursday, the Scout Traveler electric SUV and Scout Terra electric pickup truck are modern interpretations of the classic International Harvester Scout. Manufactured from 1961 to 1980, the original Scout helped popularize the idea of the rugged, off-road-capable utility vehicle, setting the stage for modern SUVs.

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Enthusiasts expecting to one day put their hands on the steering wheel of a $25,000 Tesla EV may feel like they’ve been taken for a ride.
CEO Elon Musk has just put a serious damper on those expectations, saying that outside of the driverless Robotaxi recently unveiled by Tesla, a regular $25,000 model would be “pointless” and “silly.”
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Tesla’s ambiguity about an affordable entry-level model has been going on for years. In 2020, Musk signaled that a $25,000 Tesla would arrive within three years. It was later reported that Tesla had ditched the idea, instead favoring the development of a robotaxi.
Language within Tesla’s latest financial report still hints that new affordable Tesla models are on the way. But Musk’s latest comments are putting a floor on just how affordable these would be. So far, Tesla’s Model 3 Rear-Wheel-Drive remains the company’s cheapest model, with a base price of $38,990.
Some rival EV makers, meanwhile, are entering the affordable space more aggressively in the U.S.
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Front three quarter view of the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona sedan.

The battle to use cheaper, more efficient, and safer EV batteries is heating up among automakers. At the heart of this battle, the development of solid-state battery technology, an alternative to highly flammable and costly lithium batteries, is garnering more and more attention.For proof, Stellantis, the world’s fourth-largest automaker, is betting on the technology for its next generation of electric vehicles. The Netherlands-based company announced that it will launch a demonstration fleet of Dodge Charger Daytona EVs that will feature solid-state battery tech made by U.S. startup Factorial.The demo fleet, expected to launch by 2026, will provide a real-world assessment of Factorial’s technology. Factorial has been partnering with Stellantis since 2021 and is also partnering with the likes of Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai.Besides Dodge, the technology would eventually be deployed on the Stellantis STLA Large multi-energy platform, which includes brands such as Jeep, Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati.Stellantis said that the integration of solid-state battery technology will yield “improved performance, longer driving ranges, and faster charging times in the coming years.”Factorial, meanwhile, says its technology provides higher energy density, reduced weight, improved performance, and the potential for further reduction in total vehicle cost over time. Stellantis, Daimler, and Hyundai aren’t the only ones to bet on solid-state battery tech. Toyota, the largest automaker in the world, has heavily invested in the technology. It also created a coalition with Nissan and Panasonic to boost its production in Japan. So far, making solid-state batteries has remained an expensive endeavor. But steps such as the Stellantis demo fleet and production at scale by the likes of Factorial are expected to improve manufacturing processes and costs over time.Other automakers, meanwhile, are working on ways to improve lithium batteries. Volkswagen, for one, is developing its own unified battery cell in several European plants as well as one plant in Ontario, Canada.