- Gathered in the AIRe association, the French retrofit actors await the publication of a new decree, hoped for in mid-February and which should mark the real launch of this other way of conceiving of electric mobility.
- Rather than scrapping your petrol or diesel car, the idea of retrofit is to convert it by bartering its engine and its components with all the paraphernalia of an electric car. Engine and batteries in mind.
- The problem is the price. Count at least 10,000 euros to “retrofit” your car, which makes retrofitting uncompetitive compared to the purchase of a new vehicle. The retrofit, however, has two niches to exploit: vintage cars and utilities
"You are in a real vintage car, with all the" bling "that it does when it drives. However, you no longer hear the engine ... The experience is incredible. That day, Arnaud Pigounides made a new convert to "retrofit", by having his car, a Porsche 912, tested on a private circuit.
If the engine is silent, that's normal, that's the whole principle of retrofit. The operation consists in extracting the heat engine, the tank and the exhaust pipe from a petrol or diesel vehicle to replace them with an electric motor, batteries, a plug for recharging etc.
"Another way of making electricity"
This is why the engine of this Porsche 912 does not make any more noise. "Blasphemy", say the purists of vintage cars. "Happiness," replies Arnaud Pigounides, president of Retrofuture, a start-up that wants to specialize in converting old cars to electrics. He discovered "this other way of electric mobility" when he lived in California, the temple of retrofit. "It all started a decade ago when sorcerer's apprentices started hacking into their old car garages," he explains. The approval rules being more flexible in the United States, retrofitted vehicles found themselves on the roads. and so I came across an electric Porsche 914, with which I could drive anywhere in town, including the left lane to avoid traffic jams. "
But when Arnaud Pigounides tries to return to Paris, he is reminded that the car cannot be part of the trip. The subject is subtle in France: transformations, including retrofits, are legal, but to have the right to drive, you must obtain approval for each vehicle transformed. A tedious and expensive process.
New regulations expected by mid-February
The rules will change with the publication, expected in mid-February, of a decree establishing a new framework for retrofitting. The result of a year-long lobbying campaign carried out with the government by the association AIRe (Actors in the electric retrofit industry), launched by Arnaud Pigounides and which brings together around fifteen members (garages, start-ups, companies distribution of spare parts) interested in developing the sector in France.
Tomorrow, these players will be able to obtain approvals for the transformation of a given car model and not for each individual vehicle. In return, "they are imposed very strict specifications, in particular on security issues, notes with satisfaction Joseph Beretta, president of Avere-France (Association for the development of electric mobility). This is a major issue in retrofitting, because when you modify a vehicle, you also modify its behavior. "
A stormy start?
With this new framework in place, retrofit can then make its big debut in France. Should we expect a stormy start? "Technically, we can" retrofit "any vehicle, but that does not mean that we will be able to do it overnight," says Arnaud Pigounides. Clearly, there is a whole industry to create and if the fifteen members of AIRe are in the starting blocks, they will not immediately ask for approvals for all models of existing vehicles on the market.
The beginnings will therefore be smooth. Not even sure that the retrofit one day takes off in France. In the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy or Germany, where retrofit has been authorized for several years, the market has remained confidential. Arnaud Pigounides as Joseph Beretta evoke a few tens of thousands of retrofitted vehicles at most, adding these countries. "In France, however, several indicators are green and may point to a greater boom," observes Guillaume Crunelle, head of the automotive sector at Deloitte France. It is for example the end of the sale of thermal vehicles in 2040 registered in the Law orientation of mobilities (LOM). It is also the progressive ban, in large cities, of the oldest petrol vehicles and diesels. "The electric vehicle is also gaining ground in the collective imagination as manufacturers are offering more and more models on the market," adds Guillaume Crunelle. For an opinion survey, 50% of the people we surveyed answered that their next car would be neither petrol nor diesel. "
The problem is the price!
In this context, retrofit has a card to play, especially since it is part of a circular economy logic, another notion in the wind. "The transformation makes it possible to switch to electric without scrapping petrol or diesel vehicles which can still run for several years", recalls Arnaud Pigounides. To go even further in the economy of resources, certain AIRe players, such as Carwatt, are also thinking of using second-life batteries to convert vehicles.
However, there is a catch with the retrofit. And of size. "It's the price," concedes Arnaud Pigounides. Estimates differ depending on the players who are preparing to enter the market, but it will take at least 10,000 euros to "retrofit" a car. At least initially. “At this price, and as new and cheaper new electric models arrive on the market, a large number of motorists will no doubt be more convinced by the purchase of a new vehicle than by the transformation of their thermal vehicle, say both Guillaume Crunelle and Joseph Beretta.
Vintage cars and, above all, utility vehicles
It remains all the same to retrofit to exploit niches, two of which look promising. The first is that of old cars: it is the one that Arnaud Pigounides aims by specializing in old "city cars" (Austin Mini, Fiat 500, MGB, Porsche 911 ...) "They are simpler to transform and they are cars favorite that people love to collect and that increase in value with age, he says. In this case, the retrofit can be worth it, especially since the initial investment is then amortized, since "refueling" [in other words, recharging the car] only costs a few euros. "
A niche validated by Guillaume Crunelle, who believes very much in 4L or 2CV retrofits: “some of the French who buy new vehicles today - that is to say a large part of people aged 50 - could be let yourself be tempted by reviving the car of their childhood, by bringing it up to date, ”he says.
The second niche is that of specific vehicles. The category is broad. It includes the utilities of craftsmen (plumbers, electricians, etc.), refrigerated trucks, delivery vehicles, etc. Arnaud Pigounides also adds buses, "a big chunk on which several start-ups are working," while Carwatt will specialize in airport vehicles (luggage tractors, mobile ramps, etc.) and safari vehicles. "All have in common that they have been fitted out to meet very specific uses," sums up the president of AIRe. They are therefore very expensive to purchase, so it is often worthwhile to seek to extend their life. "
In five years, the AIRe association hopes to convert 350,000 vehicles to electricity. “About 1% of the French fleet, says Arnaud Pigounides. If we succeed, it will already be very good. "
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Next step ? "Get conversion bonuses"
Obtaining a new regulatory framework which should be finalized in the coming days and officially launching the beginnings of retrofit in France is only the first step for AIRe. The association, which brings together the actors of retrofit in France, now aims to obtain from the State, regions and cities subsidies which would benefit individuals and professionals to "retrofit" their vehicles. "In the same way as aid for the purchase of an electric vehicle exists," says Arnaud Pigounides.
The stakes are high. These bonuses, if granted, would make it possible to lower the cost of transforming a thermal vehicle into an electric one, the main obstacle to the development of retrofit. Within the AIRe association, we have not given up on the idea of making this “this other way of making electric mobility” a financially competitive option with the purchase of a new vehicle.
By betting on an ecological premium of 3,000 euros, retrofit players, such as the Orleans start-up Transition One, hope, ultimately, to bring the cost of the transformation down to 5,000 euros. Joseph Beretta, president of Avere, is skeptical. "These public aids are not infinitely expandable, we should even expect them to decrease in the future," he begins. However, a sector contract between the State and the manufacturers sets strong ambitions for 2022, including that of reaching a million vehicles on the roads. We are far from it today and we need this aid to achieve this. The Avere has not yet decided on the question, but to listen to its president, not sure that the association is helping AIRe in its new fight.
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