Are thousands of electric vehicles abandoned in Sologne? This infox, shared on social networks for at least two years, reappeared in early June, taken up by conspiracy sites close to far-right spheres, not encumbered with caution as to the information they disseminate.
The contents are often similar: these cars stored in the Loir-et-Cher are Autolib’, named after the car-sharing system for electric cars in service between 2011 and 2018 in the Paris area. Stored forever in this Solognot field, these vehicles and their batteries seriously pollute the soil, they say.
The photograph held up as proof of these assertions is authentic – it was taken in 2021 in Romorantin-Lanthenay, in Loir-et-Cher, and shows many Autolib’ from the Bolloré group – but the words of these sites are peppered with errors and fallacious approximations.
- “Hundreds of batteries leaking and spreading their toxic products in the ground”
why is it wrong
According to this publication – and many others that have preceded it – the batteries of these abandoned vehicles are spreading “their toxic products in the soil”. However, according to the operator, no battery was present inside the stored cars. “Our vehicles are stored according to the rules. All batteries have been removed, connectors are isolated” , ensured at Franceinfo in 2021 Paul Aouizerate, manager of Atis Production, one of the companies owning the vehicles. The Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing (Dreal) of Loir-et-Cher, for its part, assured that it was a car park like any other: “The risk of pollution, once the batteries are evacuated, is very limited”, she reassured in 2019 as AFP reminds us.
However, the management of Autolib’ has not been flawless. The Dreal noted that Atis Production had, in a building, dismantled certain cars to then send them to the scrapyard. An activity that had to be regulated according to a prefectural decree. La Dreal also reported “four pallets of 12-volt batteries from end-of-life vehicles, stored outside without retention and not protected from the weather”. The batteries were at that time on their way to a battery recycling company. A recycling that has been well accomplished.
- “Nobody wants it”
why is it wrong
Contrary to what the authors of the article suggest, these vehicles were not intended to remain forever on this land on which they were photographed in 2021. None are stored there today. On the other hand, hundreds of cars are still stored in the town’s car parks.
In agreement with the town hall and the prefecture, the buyers of the cars stored them on a vacant lot (visible in the photograph) as well as in a parking lot in an industrial zone. Gradually some of the electric cars were resold at low prices. An offer that has had some success.
Many were not roadworthy, and were awaiting repairs to then find a buyer. Vehicles in too poor condition were dismantled in order to recover parts in good condition.
The Autopuzz company, which owned Autolib’ in Romorantin-Lanthenay, left the city, choosing to store unsold vehicles on other sites. Of the 3,500 models that arrived in 2018, there were only a few hundred left in May 2022.