http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/twizzy-electric-car-quebec-1.3539657
[Only Renault and only in Canada would somebody do a product release
announcement for a car which cannot legally be sold anywhere in Canada
yet. Let alone the version which can only do 40 km/h.
images in on-line article]
Branchez-Vous electric car show aims to convince Quebecers to ditch
fossil fuels
2,000 electric charging stations to be installed in next 18 months
CBC News Posted: Apr 16, 2016 11:24 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 17, 2016
6:55 PM ET
Quebec wants 100,000 electric cars on the roads in the next five years.
It's still far from the target: so far, there are only 9,000.
That's where Branchez-Vous, the biggest electric car show in the
province, comes in.
The event, which took place at the Gilles Villeneuve racetrack until
Saturday, sought to convince more Quebecers to make the switch from
gasoline. The province invested almost $100,000 into the car show.
It worked on Pierre Lavigueur. He was among the first in Canada to try
out the Twizy, a new electric two-seater by French automaker Renault.
With a narrow body — the passenger sits behind the driver — and
scissor-like doors, it bills itself as the solution for easy parking in
crowded cities.
"It's so small you can go almost anywhere; it's probably very easy to
park. For the city, it's perfect, really," Lavigueur said.
The electric model maxes out at 40 kilometres per hour and is only
available by lease at $99 dollars per month, including insurance.
Terrebonne-based distributor AZRA will lease the vehicles. The company
announced Saturday it will install 2,000 electric charging stations over
18 months across the province.
Quebec's Transport Minister Jacques Daoust says he's working to amend a
law to allow the car on the road.
He's hoping that within the next month these little cars could be
zipping in downtown Montreal.
==================================================================
http://insideevs.com/renault-twizy-now-available-in-canada-99month-lease-only/
[images in on-line article]
Renault and partner, charging provider AZRA announced the arrive of the
Renault Twizy 40 to Canada today from a press conference in Montreal,
Quebec.
The Canadian Renault Twizy 40 is fitted with a type-1 charging cable and
side reflectors. With speed capped at 40 km/h, it comes under the
Canadian category of low-speed vehicles (four-wheel electric vehicles
with top speed from 32 to 40 km/h).
The car was certified for sale by Transport Canada from March 1st, 2016.
“Renault Group is delighted to have chosen a company as dynamic and
committed as AZRA for the launch of Twizy in Canada,” said Guillame
Berthier, Renault’s Electric Vehicles Sales Director.
“Electric car, and Twizy in particular, enable Renault to boost its
international development. It also allows Renault to participate in the
development of new ways to sell cars. This is demonstrated by AZRA’s
“all in one” offer, with digital playing a dominant role in the sales
model.”
A point of interest from the model’s entry into Canada, it seems
Renault/AZRA is taking a page out of its European roots – instead of
offering the Twizy 40 for sale (we had heard earlier that around $17,000
would be the aprox. landed retail sale price), AZRA says it will make
the all-electric quadricycle available via lease only, at a still
respectable $99/month (which includes registration and insurance).
The Twizy has a maximum range of 100 km (62 miles) based on the NEDC
standard, which is equal to about 40 miles (65 kms) in the real world
/the US EPA standard.
We did get a chance to speak with a Renault representative from the
event to break down the curious Canadian offering.
On where it will be available:
The Twizy will be available in the provinces that’ll certify it,
and this is currently underway.
Where will it roll-out first and when:
Quebec should happen right before the summer
As obviously there is a provincial EV rebate kick-back making the Twizy
just $99/month in Quebec, what about Canada’s other two provinces that
offer plug-in incentives:
Ontario and British Columbia are almost a done deal. We are
reaching out to other provinces as a second step.
[BC does not have a provincial approval process for LSVs; it leaves it
to each municipality to license the Low Speed electric Vehicles, which
they call NZEV (Neighbourhood Zero Emission Vehicle), not LSV.]
The Twizy 40 is a modified version of the Twizy 45, could we see the
‘regular’ Twizy 80 (in other words a Twizy with a top speed of 80 km/h
(50 mph)?:
There are also discussions regarding the Twizy 80 version, but the
category doesn’t exist in Canada so we’d have to wait for it to be
created before certifying it with Transport Canada.
On the curious decision to only lease the Twizy 40. Renault or Azra
decision and why:
Azra wants to sell Twizy through an all inclusive Canadian
$99/month offer. It’s innovative and we’re working with them because
we’re interested by the business model. That would include the car, the
charging point, charging fees and a peer to peer car sharing system.
They will basically encourage their customers to make their Twizys
available for hire to other users (through an app they developed). The
Twizy owners would then lower their monthly fees that way.
And as always, we took the opportunity to again mention to Renault that
InsideEVs has a certain weak-spot for the Twizy after spending a summer
with one a few years back, and that we would be happy to take a few off
their hands … provided of course they could find a way to make them
available/legal where are North America staffers are located.
Our thanks to Renault for taking the time to include us in the event
launch and talking us through the Twizy’s launch in Canada.
Separately AZRA spoke of their public charging infrastructure plans:
Over the next 18 months, AZRA will invest $40 million to install 2,000
new electric charging stations (bring the total station count to ~8,000)
and deploy the Twizy, Renault’s first 100% electric vehicle in Canada.
“At AZRA, we are change agents on a mission to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions,” said Jean-François Carrière, President and Chief
Executive Officer of AZRA. “We are proud to be investing in transport
electrification because it is the way of the future to reduce our
environmental footprint.”
“By using our electricity to power our transport we will improve our
environment while increasing our economic prosperity,” said Jacques
Daoust, Minister of Transport, Sustainable Mobility and Transport
Electrification. “I therefore welcome the investments announced today by
AZRA. The fact that Renault has chosen a Québec company to market its
electric car in Canada speaks volumes about our leadership in this area.”
Renault Twizy Now Available In Canada – $99/Month, Lease Only
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