MOBI.E will include charging stations accessible to all electric vehicle brands. The stations will be installed all over Portugal, in places such as public car parks, shopping centers, hotels, airports and gasoline stations. Electric car users will require only an identification card to access the network, regardless of the charging station location, providing a quick and seamless experience.
The network will have normal charging points which will be able to charge an electric vehicle in 6 to 8 hours, using wind energy produced during the night, as well as rapid charging points which will charge an electric vehicle in less than 30 minutes.
"The Renault-Nissan Alliance believes that the true measure of electric mobility success is total customer satisfaction. Our partnership with MOBI.E Tech will ensure that all electric vehicle customers in Portugal are given the highest-quality charging experience possible," said Emmanuel Delay, Senior Vice President of Administration and Finance at Nissan International SA.
"We congratulate the Portuguese government and the MOBI.E Tech consortium that were able to develop this project which we expect to become a world-class benchmark. Today we commit to jointly studying the best way to promote this project for the success of electric mobility in Portugal," said José Caro de Sousa, General Manager of Renault Portugal.
MOBI.E Tech is actively working towards deploying the MOBI.E model and underlying technology in other countries.
"We do believe that the creation of an integrated, fully interoperable pan-European charging system, open to multiple energy providers, network charging operators, automobile constructors and other added-value service providers, will be one of the key challenges to the adoption of EVs on a massive scale. MOBI.E Tech software platform was architected from the beginning to support such a multiple-entity complex environment", said Fernando Baptista, General Manager of MOBI.E Tech.
Today’s LOI follows the Agreement signed between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Portugal in 2008 for the implementation of a nationwide electric mobility program in the country. The agreement calls for 1,300 vehicle charging points by 2011 and the supply of electric vehicles by the Renault-Nissan Alliance, starting with the Nissan LEAF in December 2010.
The Nissan LEAF, the world’s first mass-marketed electric vehicle, is powered by an 80 kW electric engine and has a range of 160 km (US-LA 4 mode) to satisfy real-world customer requirements.
Last week, Nissan announced that Portugal would be one of the two first countries in Europe to receive the all-electric compact family car in December. Priced at 29,955 Euros (after 5,000 Euros in government direct incentives), the Nissan LEAF will come fully equipped with features such as air conditioning, satellite navigation, a parking camera, a quick charge socket and innovative smart-phone connectivity.
MOBI.E Tech is a company specialized in Electric Mobility. Its main goal is to deploy the MOBI.E model and technology solutions worldwide, while contributing to an interoperable electric vehicle charging global network.
The Renault-Nissan Alliance, which was formed in 1999, aims to be a global leader in zero-emission mobility. To date, the Alliance has entered into more than 60 partnerships worldwide with countries, cities, organizations and other key stakeholders to prepare the markets and necessary infrastructure for the successful adoption of electric vehicles around the world.
