Transform your old Crit’Air 3 car into a virtuous Crit’Air 1 rechargeable hybrid? This is the promise of the French SME Green Corp Konnection (GCK), based near Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme). With its Twin-E kit, it will be possible to add an electric motor and batteries to an old internal combustion engine car to give it up to 70 km of range in electric mode, while retaining the internal combustion engine for long journeys.
The Twin-E kit adds an electric motor coupled to a planetary gear train instead of the gearbox, while the battery is housed in the flat bottom of the trunk. The set is charged via a socket and an on-board charger, like a conventional plug-in hybrid car.
A less intrusive installation and three times cheaper than an electric car
Compared to the retrofit, the installation of the hybridization kit requires only few modifications, and is thus less expensive. On the price side, The Parisian announces a cost of around €7,500 for the kit and installation by a mechanic, which is around three times cheaper than a Dacia Spring and half the price of a traditional 100% electric retrofit.
The government is already working on the regulatory framework in order to approve this device, which represents a reasonable alternative to decarbonize agglomerations without depriving low-income households of their right to travel. If the company affirms that the vehicles thus converted benefit from the sacrosanct Crit’Air 1 sticker, we can also expect a boost from the State, on the model of the ecological bonus, to promote its installation. The amounts of the possible aid are yet to be defined.