Renault gives a free electric car to everyone in this town

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Renault gives a free electric car to everyone in this town

Leow Ju Len

04/08/2020

Every household in a tiny French town called (what else?) Appy is getting a free Renault Zoe. No, Oprah isn’t involved. Read why this is ‘appening…

Everyone in Appy is going to be very ’appy indeed. That’s because every household in the remote French village is about to get a free Renault Zoe.

Renault is giving its sub-compact electric car to all residents in the village to make a point: that switching over to electric vehicles (EVs) can be painless. The struggling French company is getting Appy residents to run the sub-compact electric hatchback for three years and share their impressions. It says it wants to better understand how customers “interact with” and use EVs day to day.

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Renault says Appy is one of the most ulu villages in France, but says that is precisely one reason it makes a good test-bed for EVs. “If the inhabitants of one of the country’s most isolated towns can adopt an electric way of life, it’ll prove that everyone can. That also means the myths around buying and running an electric car can be dispelled once and for all,” the company said in a statement. Between fast charging and the Zoe’s 395km range, Renault believes the villagers will take to battery power well.

Unless they want to go to Paris, presumably — Appy is 800km from the French capital. On the other hand, if residents want their Zoes to take them to big city delights, Barcelona is only 221km away.

The Zoe was the world’s seventh best-selling EV last year, with around 48,000 deliveries. Some 7,500 of those were for the redesigned 2020 model, which Renault rolled out in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Renault will be sending only a tiny number of Zoes to Appy; a 2016 census put the number of residents there at just 24. The village is so de-populated that it went 64 years without a marriage.

What Renault hopes to prove about EVs with a town like that is anybody’s guess, but residents are unlikely to complain about a free car. In some ways, we all want to be Appy.

READ MORE: The latest hot shizzle on CarBuyer Singapore

About the Author

Leow Ju Len

CarBuyer Singapore's original originator, Ju-Len in person is exactly how he is on the written word and behind the wheel. Meaning that he darts all over the place and just when you thought he's lost the plot, you realise that it's just you not keeping up with his incredible rate of speed and thought.

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