Renault Zoe on ice

Today's opening of the Renault Academy raised once again the subject of electric vehicles in Australia.

Renault Australia MD Justin Hocevar made no secret of the fact that the Academy would be training technical staff to work on battery-electric vehicles. No surprise there, given Renault is currently trialling the Kangoo ZE van with Australia Post in Melbourne and Sydney. But without a go-ahead to commence full importation of the Kangoo ZE for customers other than Aussie Post, Renault's focus on bringing its dealer technicians up to date with EV technology seems foresighted at best, pointless at worst.

"It is about future-proofing our business and training requirements, so we will see more EV product come – over time – but at least we've now got the right facility, ensuring the capability to get our [dealer] network up to speed," Hocevar told motoring.com.au when the question was put to him this morning.

"It also helps us address some of the... early work we're doing in EV now. We've got a trial – Kangoo ZE with Australia Post – at the moment.  So we want to be able to have appropriate technical support..."

In the short term, commercial EVs like the Kangoo ZE are a more realistic option open to Renault Australia than passenger vehicles, which have proven to be diabolically difficult to sell in the past. Hocevar doesn't close the door on passenger EVs entirely however.

"We will explore the possibility of passenger vehicles as well, over time..."

And is the Zoe (pictured) at the forefront of that exploration?

"There's no official programme to launch the vehicle in Australia at this point in time. We do have keen interest in Zoe... We see that it's already a very successful vehicle – in terms of EV – in Europe. We have had them out here to do some testing, so we are familiar with their operation in this environment.

"I think the big challenge at the moment is probably price justification. The cost of the battery technology is still relatively high compared with an internal-combustion-engined vehicle. And in a lot of the other markets where they are successful, there are support mechanisms in place, on various different scales...

"Some of those are economic advantages, financial advantages, and some of them are just user advantages – access to special parking, vehicle lanes, bus lanes, registration...

"We're endeavouring to have those conversations, and we have with a couple of state governments that are open to these ideas. But I'd say it still has some way to go before it really gets on a mainstream agenda."

In essence then, the cost of batteries must come down before the Zoe will be a sustainable business case in Australia, and the one and only way the current cost could be offset is with government concessions – and there's a new administration in Canberra now... one that seems a little friendlier to environmental issues.

As for the Kangoo ZE trial with Australia Post, Hocevar says it's "going extremely well."

The electric vans are hooked up with "data capturing" devices. So far, nothing particularly out of the ordinary has been thrown up by the trial.

"Everything is really as expected," Hocevar observed. "These vehicles are already operating in their tens of thousands with fleets in Europe – Deutsche Post... the French postal service and a number of other fleets are already operating the Kangoo ZE.

"It's more about the local market specifics. And also being able to understand how drivers [use the Kangoo]. In Europe they've had some understanding of these vehicles for a while. In some cases the technology is quite stable and understood. But drivers integrating that technology... learning how to live with it and use it, is perhaps where we really need to understand [the local drivers].

It appears that the Kangoo ZE is a largely known quantity from Renault's standpoint; it's actually Australia Post that is coming to grips with this new way of delivering the mail. Renault Australia is basically offering its client advice on how the Kangoo ZE could provide a unique selling proposition that would benefit Australia Post.

"We've also tried to understand where there are other flow-on benefits. Can you, for example, provide a delivery service out of hours, because the vehicle is virtually silent..." Hocevar offers, by way of example.

The sole question remaining then is whether Australia Post will even be delivering letters and parcels by the time the battery technology for electric vehicles has reached a viable point.