A vehicle from the Autolib 'fleet, in Paris, in 2012 (illustration).
-
ERIC PIERMONT / AFP
“We found the Autolib '.
Difficult to sell, they are stored in open-air cemeteries, ”denounces, on Twitter, a message accompanied by several photos.
We see many electric cars of the Bluecar model, the one that made up the rental service fleet available in Paris until its disappearance in the summer of 2018.
If the photos are authentic and were taken on a vacant lot in Loir-et-Cher, they do not show the entire fleet of cars - part of which has been sold in recent years to individuals.
Four years after its abandonment due to an excessive deficit, Autolib ', the Parisian self-service electric vehicle sharing service, is resurfacing.
At least on social networks.
A series of photos showing the famous Bluecar from BlueSolutions, the subsidiary of the Bolloré group which produces these vehicles, is indeed talking about many Internet users.
We see, lined up in several rows, along a vast green expanse, these gray cars decked out with the slogan "Free as air".
This suggests that the nearly 4,000 vehicles making up the Autolib 'fleet have ended well in this outdoor junkyard since the summer of 2018 and the end of the contract between the municipalities using the service to BlueSolutions.
We found the Autolib '.
Difficult to sell, they are stored in open-air cemeteries.
"Free as the air" ...
Here it is near Romorantin, in the Loir-et-Cher.
(Photos Vega Gex) pic.twitter.com/YzMkq1cOYJ
- JDSE (@JCQDSE) March 6, 2021
“We found the Autolib '.
Difficult to sell, they are stored in open-air cemeteries.
"Free as air" ... Here it is near Romorantin, in the Loir-et-Cher ", says one of the many publications denouncing an ecological or financial disaster.
Even if it means mistakenly suggesting that the whole fleet ended up in this type of "cemetery".
FAKE OFF
At the end of summer 2018, a number of media were talking about the future of these electric cars, like our colleagues from LCI: “The vast majority of cars will end up being scrapped.
Even as Autolib 'was living its last hours, hundreds of vehicles were already sent to a car recycling plant in Romorantin-Lanthenay, a town located in Loir-et-Cher.
"" Autolib employees told TF1 that nearly 2,700 cars would be destroyed [on the site].
They must be dismantled and some parts recovered, ”noted the continuous news channel.
In practice, many of these cars were bought and then resold by a local company, the garage Cavarec, and by the car or spare parts company Autopuzz, such as the local press - and
20 Minutes
- had done so. echo in the following months.
“There has been a lot of talk about us and Autopuzz, which are the two biggest Bluecar resellers in France, but many other companies have bought them,” explains the Cavarec garage at
20 Minutes
.
On our side, we must have bought between 300 and 350, no more.
They were marketed in November 2018 and were very successful given their price.
“Many individuals have indeed taken the opportunity to afford an electric car at a lower cost.
The Autopuzz group, which we also contacted, indicates for its part to have "taken over almost the entire fleet".
“We started by selling 300 Bluecars and today we are over 1,000 in total.
Since then, we have also taken over the old Autolib 'equivalent in Bordeaux and Lyon, the cars from the Bluely and Bluecab services, but these vehicles are processed in these regions, ”adds Autopuzz.
A wasteland occupied by "a hundred" electric cars
The photos of the Bluecars relayed on social networks were however taken in Romorantin, as confirmed to us by Mathias, blogger for the Blog-engine site, who published, on March 8, a long article rich in photos retracing his visit to the famous Open-air "cemetery".
"When I saw the photos on a Facebook post, it struck me, I wondered what would become of these cars, so I went to see because I live nearby", he explains. .
“I did not count the number of vehicles but there must have been a hundred in total, knowing that they are quite small and lined up in several rows.
"
Vehicles mostly without battery
However, contrary to what viral publications around this "graveyard" claim, it is not only made up of Autolib 'Bluecar model.
It also accommodates vehicles that have been used for Bluely and Bluecab services in Bordeaux and Lyon, as Mathias notes.
The blogger also specifies that most of the vehicles he has inspected no longer have their electric battery, which we were able to confirm by consulting the photos concerned.
"We do not have these vehicles, they were installed on this vacant lot by a private company, which manages them," indicates the Cavarec garage.
They are entirely devoid of battery and are probably doomed to be deconstructed to allow the resale of their spare parts, unlike the electric vehicles present in the Romo 3 car park, intended for resale.
"
If Mathias notes, photo in support, that a few auxiliary batteries are assembled on a part of the vacant lot, he confirms that the majority of electric vehicles present in this “cemetery” do not have a main battery.
“The cars are well aligned, the rows separated by a few meters each time… We feel that things have been done according to the rules of the art, I would not say that all the safety instructions have been respected but it inspires a certain notion of seriousness, ”he explains.
And the blogger concludes: “I think these cars remain there because it has been decided not to resell them as is.
Most will probably never see the road again, but their spare parts remain an attractive market value.
"
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