The company Renault is the first car company to devote itself to the development of cars with zero emission of CO2. At the beginning of the current decade, the first electric cars – models Zoe, Twizy, Kangoo Z.E., Fluence Z.E. – arrived and expanded the Renault’s assortment.
Given the fact that they are equally recognisable, as well as other Renault’s vehicles, they are quickly becoming popular on the old continent. However, they still haven’t arrived in Serbia, and why that is the case we got the explanation from General Manager of “Renault-Nissan Srbija“, Milan Belin.
EP: The company Renault has not even one electric car on the Serbian market. Why is that so?
Milan Belin: Business model that company Renault presented when launching electric vehicles on the world marker is “electrical vehicles available to everyone”. This implies that the company’s goal is that each customer gets an electrical vehicle at the price of a similar one with a diesel engine. In order to achieve this it is necessary to fulfill two conditions: satisfactory subsidy of the government when purchasing an electric vehicle and good coverage of charging stations.
EP: What are the things that the developed countries offer to the importers and buyers of the electric vehicles? What condition should be fulfilled in order for the Renault’s electric cars to appear in showrooms of some country?
Milan Belin: In addition to subventions and availability of chargers, which are the basic conditions for placing of Renault models on the market, almost all developed countries give additional benefits to the owners of electrical cars: free tolls, free parking places, free electricity… Until the Republic of Serbia does not invest in the development of charging network and does not help the purchase by introducing subsidies, there are no adequate conditions for commercialization on our market.
EP: Renault Zoe was at the top of Europe’s top-selling electric car list in the past few months as well as in the last two years. So far, have you been contacted by the interested buyers of Renault’s electric cars on domestic market?
Milan Belin: The interest is growing every day, not only for Zoe, but also for Kangoo and Twizy. Aside from individuals, the interest is shown by legal entities, who would like to add this type of vehicles to their fleet.
EP: What is the primary reason why customers decide to buy exactly Renault’s electric cars? When you compare with the giant such as Tesla, what would be your advantage?
Milan Belin: The models which our company produces are multifunctional – from family through city to delivery vehicles, so the possibility to satisfy the wider population is higher.
EP: What the fans of Renault’s brand like most is certainly the design. The same applies to electric cars such as Zoe and especially model Twizy. What is the secret?
Milan Belin: It is very simple – Renault’s electric vehicles are fully followed by innovative designer’s solutions that are also offered in our other models. During 2016, the number of sold Renault models of electric vehicles exceeded 100,000 in Europe, which means that every fourth electric car on this continent is Renault’s. In the share of sales, model Zoe is involved with more than 50 per cent, and it is at the same the best-selling model of this kind in Europe in the last two years.
– The situation with the placement of Nissan cars in Serbia is similar to the one with the Renault brand. The first Nissan’s electric car will appear on the domestic market when the conditions for that are fulfilled – said Mr Belin
EP: What features possess the most popular among Renault’s electric vehicles – Zoe, Twizy, Kangoo? What feature is the biggest trump card?
Milan Belin: Kangoo has a range of up to 200 km, Twizy up to 100 km. Of course, these are factory data, since the real range depends on the variety of factors (driving style and conditions…) The last modification of Zoe model has a range of up to 400km.
EP: On what technical and technological characteristics is the Renault’s development sector currently focused?
Milan Belin: Renault has decided to develop exclusively electric vehicles in the future and that development is currently going in the direction of cheaper batteries with greater autonomy.
EP: For the end, do you have a message for drivers – polluters?
Milan Belin: We have only one planet and it depends on us how much will the nature be able to withstand the pollution we create. Look into the future, because we are the ones who influence what kind of planet we will leave to our kids and the future generations.
Interview by: Marija Nešović and Vera Rakić
This interview was originally published in the eighth issue of the Energy Portal Bulletin, named ECOMOBILITY.
