A new electric vehicle partnership announced today connects one of Britain’s largest energy providers EDF Energy with carmakers Peugeot UK and Citroën UK.
The partnership aims to offer residential and business customers
electric vehicle (EV) services and recharging products with the sale of every
Peugeot iOn or
Citroën C-Zero. Both cars are now on sale in the UK and benefit from the Government’s
Plug-in Car Grant.
Describing today’s initiative as a "one stop shop for customers", EDF said it hoped it would promote the development and expand the future of fully electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in the UK.
Forecasts suggests 85,000 EVs will be on Britain’s roads by 2015, and 600,000 by 2020.
"We are delighted to be working with Peugeot UK and Citroën UK and to offer an electric vehicles package to the domestic and fleet customers,"
said Eric Salomon, Energy Field Services director at EDF Energy. "We understand that the take-up of clean, low carbon electric
transport is crucial to Britain in meeting its carbon reduction targets."
Infrastructure
The energy company is collaborating with Elektromotive, a provider of EV recharging infrastructure, on the charging points for the scheme, which will offer businesses and residential customers dedicated charging points, smart meters and site surveys among other things. The two companies have already installed approximately 100 EV charging points around the UK.
Residential customers
The residential package offers households a dedicated charging point, which charges 35 per cent more quickly than traditional chargers, a smart meter, an EV consumption statement that allows owners to see the cost of charging the car and a three-year warranty on the charging point.
According to a release from EDF Energy, the low carbon charge point included in the residential package allows households to save through the Eco 20:20 tariff, which allows 20 per cent cheaper electricity during evenings and on weekends.
Business customers
For business fleet customers, EDF said it was offering a range of recharging products and services including a site survey, technical report, installation services and smart metering technology. However, unlike residential customers it has not yet come up with a business tariff.
"We anticipate that in the future there will be smart metering and charging management products for fleet operators, which means they can benefit from a time of use tariff," a spokesman for the company told
GreenWise.
Partnerships
As well as Peugeot and
Citroën, EDF said it had a number of other strategic partnerships and relationships with motor manufacturers to support the development and future marketing of electric vehicles and their recharging, including Renault-Nissan Alliance and BMW.
The company has collaborated with Mercedes-Benz and Toyota on plug-in vehicles trials and demonstration projects and said it was consulting widely with motor
manufacturers, charge point manufacturers and central and local Government in order to be ready to roll-out electric vehicles.
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