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Manufacturers take up the emissions challenge |
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Tuesday, 12 August 2008 |
To respond to green concerns,
Renault and PSA Peugeot-Citroën
have ambitious low-emission
vehicles planned.
Renault signed with the
governments of Israel, Finland and
Portugal to provide electric versions
of its Mégane and Kangoo vehicles
from 2011. The governments
undertook to install a system of public
recharging points and give tax breaks
to the owners of the vehicles. Each of
the vehicles should be able to cover
around 80km driving at normal
speeds before being recharged.
Work is continuing on a new
battery system which should see a
half-hour recharge provide up to 50%
of the battery’s power, enabling the
80km range to be extended.
PSA-Peugeot-Citroën has not
announced any definite dates, but said
it is working with Mitsubishi to
develop electric drive trains for a
small urban vehicle.
Another green investment is in
StorHy, the government-sponsored
hydrogen storage initiative.
The carmaker has run several
prototype fuel-cell / battery hybrids
over the past 10 years but said:
“Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles are still
a long way from the technical and
economic maturity needed to support
mass-market production.”
Last year the company ran a
Peugeot 307 diesel-electric hybrid
prototype in the Challenge Bidendum
race, which produced just 74 grams of
CO2 per km.
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