Europcar snaps up largest UK order of Renault electric cars

French car manufacturer Renault has delivered its biggest UK order of electric vehicles (EVs) to date, after agreeing to supply 55 all-electric Renault ZOEs to rental company Europcar for its car hire service throughout major UK cities.


Europcar acquired the Renault ZOE fleet on Wednesday (14 September), enabling its employees to deliver rental vehicles to customer homes and workplaces. The all-electric fleet forms part the Europcar’s drive to ensure that 5% of its UK vehicles are electric by 2020.

Europcar UK’s managing director Gary Smith said: “Our Deliver & Collect service aims to enhance the rental experience for our customers – taking the time and hassle out of collecting a vehicle at the start of the hire and having to go back to our branch at the end of the journey.

“And the addition of the Renault ZOEs at many of our city branches, enabling our employees to get to and from our branches without expending any emissions, makes the Deliver & Collect service all the more environmentally friendly.”

ZOE meet LEAF

The announcement comes just a day after the Renault-Nissan alliance reported that it had sold 350,000 vehicles since the release of the Nissan LEAF in December 2010.

The Alliance unveiled various EV-related figures, including reaching the “historic” milestone of selling 100,000 EVs in one year and how the Nissan LEAF remains the most popular EV on the market. The Alliance sales also account for half of all of EVs sold worldwide.

Alliance chairman Carlos Ghosn said: “This historic milestone confirms our customers’ recognition of the benefits of Renault and Nissan electric vehicles. Our commitment to contribute toward a zero-emissions world by bringing to the market a full range of affordable EVs makes Renault-Nissan the indisputable leader in EV technology.”

A number of different car manufacturers have announced new EV models for use in both private and commercial sectors in recent months. With the upcoming release of Tesla’s model 3 and reports of a Jaguar electric SUV, there is an increasing push for practical EV infrastructure solutions.

With this increase in EV’s, there is a need to enhance infrastructure rollouts in order to accommodate growth. This rollout could be facilitated by oil giants Shell, with a recent a freedom of information (FoI) request by climate change activist group DeSmog revealing that EV charging stations could be incorporated alongside petrol pumps in Shell UK service stations by 2017.

Alex Baldwin

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