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This 8th E-Rallye Monte-Carlo, the benchmark round of the Bridgestone FIA eco-Rally Cup, is once again an opportunity to see an excellent crew at work, Jérôme Aymard and Christophe Marques (Renault Mégane E-Tech). They finished 4th overall last year, just off the podium. They shone again on Friday, finishing several times in the Top 5 or Top 10 of the four regularity stages contested between the Alpes-Maritimes and the Var.
The Var is one of eleven departments in south-eastern France, most of them rural, where eborn has installed a public network of 2,800 charging stations since 2015. At the outset, there were five founding members, i.e. five departmental energy management syndicates, including those of Ardèche and Drôme, rally lands and “Monte-Carlo” meccas since the dawn of time, but also Haute-Savoie, Isère and Hautes-Alpes. Today, the eborn network belongs to 11 syndicates spread over two regions (Auvergne Rhône-Alpes and Sud/PACA).
At midday on Thursday, in the Colmars les Alpes regrouping park in the Alpes de Haute-Provence region, a few competitors were able to recharge their cars in a hurry, after two testing special stages (SR3 and SR4) between Valberg and Col des Champs, before setting off again to tackle the following stages. Despite the increasing autonomy of the vehicles, they were quite happy to be allowed to put a few Kws back into their electric motors.
Easy Charge (Vinci Group) in charge!
“Vinci group subsidiary Easy Charge has been chosen by the 11 unions to manage our 2,800 charging stations. We’re seeing a steady increase in the number of people using our charging stations, especially in tourist areas during the summer. This shows that we are responding to a growing demand from users, particularly foreign tourists, during school vacations. We were the first operators to offer contactless payment”, emphasizes Laurent Chareyre, Communications Director of Territoire d’Energie de la Drôme.
“The network is now complete, with an average of one charging point every 30 km, so our network will continue to expand on a case-by-case basis, depending on the particular needs of certain areas. We generally have two charging points per terminal, with a variety of power ratings. Most are “accelerated” charging points (22 or 24 kwH), perfect for rural areas, and we have a few hundred “rapid” charging points (50 kwH). But none on freeways, as they are not part of the public domain where energy is managed by local authorities (town halls, départements)”, adds Laurent Chareyre. “eborn is the first public charging network in France, and possibly in Europe”, adds Mr. Chareyre. As such, it has been a major partner of the Automobile Club de Monaco, since 2017.
