Retrofit: the government gets to the heart of the matter

Retrofit. Coming from the United States, this solution consists of replacing the internal combustion engine of your car with an electric motor and a battery pack. Authorized in France since a decree published in March 2020 thanks to lobbying led by the Association of Actors in the Electric Retrofit Industry (AIRe), retrofitting seemed to be vegetating, at least until now.

Because things seem to be moving slowly. Indeed, during the last Paris Motor Show last October, Roland Lescure, the Minister Delegate in charge of Industry, formalized the creation of a fund of 20 million euros for retrofit players. There is urgency in this matter, knowing that in 2035, the end of the marketing of thermal vehicles in Europe, the French car fleet will still have 20 million petrol and diesel vehicles, or 50%. And when we know that 30% of greenhouse gas emissions come from transport, 97% of these emissions from the road mode, it is essential to find new solutions. Retrofitting is one of them, and would allow “to accelerate the decarbonization of our daily journeys, in a process of reusing materials and circular economy“, according to Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Energy Transition.

Unfortunately, this solution has a cost, both in terms of investment and certification. Today, retrofitting thermal vehicles into electric vehicles remains a niche market. In order to democratize the practice, the French government has just announced the opening of a two-month consultation on this subject. It is about identifyingobstacles to the development of retrofitting, to better develop, in our territories, offers for the transformation of thermal vehicles into electric vehicles“, declared Clément Beaune, Minister Delegate in charge of Transport.

Concretely, the government’s action will aim to distinguish “new development projects and structuring investments to accelerate the scaling up of retrofitting” as well as “existing competitive retrofit offers allowing households to have an electric vehicle“.

Thousands of pending orders

While thousands of orders are pending in France, only 10 cars have been retrofitted, Citroën 2 CVs. They are all the work of one and the same company, the Mehari Club Cassis – R-Fit.

The reason: the 2 CV in question is the only vehicle to “have received the essential sesame prior to any transformation: the approval“. This is indeed the crux of the problem, because for each model to be retrofitted, homologation is mandatory. The most striking example always comes from the Mehari Club Cassis – R-Fit, which had to submit a new file for Approval for a Citroën 2 CV van, different from a traditional 2 CV in the eyes of the administration, since the mine type is not identical. And of course, you have to go back to the checkout.

Very recently, the Grenoble company TOLV (ex-Phoenix Mobility) has just — finally — obtained its very first approval for the conversion of Renault Trafic produced between 2000 and 2006 (generation 2 phase 1). Fitted with a 200 kW electric motor and a 34 kWh capacity battery, i.e. 100 kg overweight, this retrofitted Trafic will offer a range of 159 km and a top speed of 110 km/h. The cost of this transformation will vary from €19,000 to €28,000 excluding VAT, depending on whether or not the vehicle is supplied.

According to AIRe estimates, electric retrofitting could generate turnover in France of more than one billion euros for 65,000 retrofitted vehicles, and allow the creation of nearly 5,000 direct and indirect jobs.

44% of French people are in favor of retrofitting

During the last EQUIP Auto trade show, which was held in Paris on the same dates as the Mondial de l’Auto, the organizers of the first carried out a survey via Ipsos of 1,200 people questioned in Germany, France, Italy and the UK. -United.

The title was “the car and the ecological transition“. It emerged that the “keys to a successful ecological transition for the automobile“based, for 74% of respondents in the four countries, on eco-maintenance, retrofitting and hydrogen.

Regarding retrofitting, 44% of respondents (44% in France, 39% in Germany, 46% in the United Kingdom and 48% in Italy) said they knew what the practice consisted of. They are 53% – including 44% in France – to declare themselves in favor of this technique.

However, uncertainties remain. Thus, 67% of those questioned are worried “possible technical complications“while 57% think autonomy will be “lower than that of a real electric car“. Among other concerns, 56% wonder about the “aging of other parts of the car“, 37% on the absence of an after-sales network while 29% regret that retrofitting only concerns cars over five years old and two-wheelers over three years old.

On this last point, it should be noted that in France, vehicles (passenger cars, commercial vehicles, coaches) eligible for retrofit must be thermal and over five years old, and over three years for two-wheelers, three -wheels and other quadricycles. The vehicle to be transformed — must be 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.

On the technical side, a retrofitted car must absolutely retain the same characteristics as the original internal combustion engine car, namely identical weight and distribution of masses, with nevertheless a 10% tolerance. As a result, the capacity and weight of the battery are extremely limited.