On March 13, 2020, a government decree made retrofitting legal thanks to the lobbying of the association of actors in the electrical retrofitting industry (AIRe). This solution consists of grafting an electric powertrain onto a petrol or diesel car. The goal is “to accelerate the decarbonization of our daily journeys in a process of reusing materials and circular economy”explained Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister for Energy Transition, very recently, during the launch of consultations by the State with players in the retrofit sector.
Long before this initiative, the Mondial de l’auto in Paris last October saw the creation of a fund of 20 million euros for retrofit players. However, for two years, the “patina retrofit”admits our colleague Nicolas Laperruque in an article in the Dauphine Libere published last April.
To date, a few dozen vehicles have been retrofitted. They are all the work of a single company, the Mehari Club Cassis/R-Fit. And for good reason, the 2 CV in question is today the only vehicle to “having received the essential sesame prior to any transformation: approval”.
But things should change quickly, especially with the entry into the running of car specialists such as repair and maintenance centres, which should bring costs down. Thus, the Autobacs chain has signed a partnership with Rev Mobilities, one of the French specialists in electrical retrofitting.
From the first quarter of 2023, this should result in the development of a first dedicated workshop in an already existing store in Rosny/Bois. However, this opening can only take place once authorization has been obtained. This is issued by UTAC, the only organization “designated by ministerial decree to validate the conformity of the transformation proposed by a manufacturer with respect to the specifications of this decree”.
In addition to this partnership, Autobacs wishes “develop its workshop services and offer new services”. Nothing too surprising, knowing that “the labor time to retrofit a city car is estimated at between 25 and 50 hours per vehicle” and that job prospects in the retrofit sector are “estimated between 340 and 4200 people depending on market dynamics”, according to a report by Ademe. Other estimates by the AIRe, electric retrofitting could generate in France a turnover of more than one billion euros for 65,000 retrofitted vehicles and create some 5,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Rev Mobilities, the promise to transform your titine into electric
On the Rev Mobilities website — whose objective is 20,000 retrofits over three years — there are three sections (Retrofuture, Rev Professional and Rev Bus & Truck) reserved for retrofits.
© Rev Mobilities / Retrofuture
The Retrofuture department offers to retrofit all kinds of vehicles, from utility vehicles to sports cars and cars. “pleasure”, “premium” and “city dwellers”. Thus, the promise is given to owners of Fiat 500, Austin Mini, Jaguar XJS, Range Rover, Porsche 911/912 or 928 to continue to drive electric, even in ZFE (Low Emission Zones).
© Rev Mobilities / Retrofuture
Classic car and retrofit: a bad idea
Still, if the poster is attractive, we can notice that nothing will be available before March 2023. And for good reason, each model must obtain its approval which turns out to be long and tedious. Not to mention that it comes at a high cost. Thus, for the retrofit of the mythical Beetle, the bill varies from 22,000 to 29,000 €, depending on whether you supply the vehicle or not.
However, you will have to be sure of your move, because in reality it is not at all interesting to retrofit a vehicle over 30 years old or approaching this age. Indeed, from the age of 30, and provided you complete a file validated by the FFVE, a vehicle becomes a collection and is no longer legally considered a car, but a heritage object.
As a result, collector’s vehicles, bearing the appropriate mention on their gray card and representing in France less than 5% of the mass of cars in circulation, are not concerned by the ZFE. Similarly, the very low number of kilometers they travel per year (barely 1000 km) is negligible in terms of C02 emissions and hardly justifies a change in energy.
If you prefer the silent operation of an electric motor instead of the agricultural hum of an Austin Mini or the hushed growl of the 6-cylinder of an XJS, we recommend that you keep the engine of these preciously in a corner, because in the event of sale, the residual value of these retrofitted vehicles could collapse in relation to the original one. Obviously, the situation could be different in the case of a vehicle that navigates between two waters, like an ordinary Peugeot 206 (excluding S16 or RC, of course), too old for the ZFE and too young for the collection.
Eligibility: car over five years old, three years for 2-wheelers
In France, vehicles (passenger cars, commercial vehicles, coaches) eligible for retrofit must be thermal and over five years old, and over three years for 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers and other quadricycles. The vehicle to be converted (mandatory by an approved professional) must have belonged to you for more than a year. Once the operation has been carried out, it is forbidden to resell the vehicle within six months following the transformation, and it is compulsory to travel more than 6000 km before reselling it.