Renault-Nissan to Supply EVs to French Telecom Company

The Renault-Nissan Alliance has signed an agreement with Orange, a telecommunications operator, to supply it with a fleet of 200 electric vehicles for its needs in France.

Renault-Nissan will provide the 100-percent electric vehicles to Orange by 2015. Orange will use the electric vehicles mostly for car-sharing purposes between its buildings and installations in France. Orange currently has about 2,000 pool vehicles in France with about 100 cars (hybrid, electric, diesel, etc.) available for car-sharing purposes. Using the Orange Auto Partage application, employees can book a car for professional or personal use online or via a smartphone, according to Renault-Nissan.

The Renault-Nissan electric fleet will be comprised of the Renault ZOE subcompact, the Renault Kangoo Z.E. van, the newly launched Nissan e-NV200 van, and the Nissan LEAF. Orange already owns a fleet of about thirty tandem 2-seat Twizys it has acquired from Renault since 2012.

“We believe that the use of electric vehicles needs to be encouraged both professionally and privately. Therefore, this agreement with the Renault-Nissan Alliance contributes to helping us meet our commitment to a 20-percent reduction in our CO₂ footprint by 2020,” said Hélène Billon, Orange Facilities & Mobility Management director. “By that time, we hope to continue the acquisition of more than 1,000 electric vehicles, notably to account for about one-third of our car-sharing fleet in France.”

Renault-Nissan will accompany Orange in the installation of a network of charging stations at the sites which adopt the car-sharing service.

The electric vehicles procurement agreement between the Alliance and Orange is part of a wider international partnership between the two companies.