This post is taken from the newsletter ” Human warmth “, sent every Tuesday at 12 p.m. Every week, journalist Nabil Wakim, who hosts the Chaleur Humaine podcast, answers questions from Internet users on the climate challenge. You can register for free here:
“Hello and a big thank you for your podcasts. If I understood correctly the podcast with Céline Guivarch, we must avoid using all our thermal cars until the end of their “technical” life. Wouldn’t it then be wiser to encourage retrofitting rather than betting everything on new electric cars? » Question asked by Serge at chaud [email protected].
“I listened with interest to your electric vehicle podcast but you have not mentioned the question of electrifying small thermal cars, is this possible? Is it worth it? » Question asked by Catherine at chaud [email protected].
My answer : Yes, we can transform thermal cars into electric ones, the practice is called “retrofit”. It is developing little by little but encounters several obstacles: it is expensive for individual cars and the administrative framework is still vague. However, it is an option that can make its contribution to the end of the thermal vehicle. (You can learn more by reading this article by my colleague Eric Gibory.)
1- What are we talking about?
The practice of “retrofit” (in good French) consists of replacing the engine of a car with a battery. This operation is carried out by a specialist mechanic, who installs a suitable kit and modifies the original vehicle, which becomes an electric vehicle. A plate indicating this change must be affixed and the registration certificate is amended.
According to a study by the Environment and Energy Management Agency (Ademe), on city cars (half of the current vehicle fleet), the practice is good from an environmental point of view: it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by around 50% compared to the purchase of a new electric vehicle. As explained in this episode of “Human Heat” researcher Emmanuel Hachethe manufacture of an electric car emits quite a few greenhouse gases – while its use contributes very little to climate change.
The retrofit would make it possible to accelerate the electrification of the vehicle fleet by not only focusing on new vehicles, while France hopes to reach at least 15% of electric vehicles in 2030, compared to 1% currently, according to the ecological planning secretariat. Currently, according to Ademe, we could reach around 1,500 “retrofitted” cars at the end of 2023 and 150,000 in 2028 on the current trajectory – 500,000 in 2028 if significant efforts were made. It’s not nothing, but it doesn’t go most of the way!
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