Last week, France unveiled plans to go electric, making it both possible and convenient for commuters in the nation to purchase and engage in the regular use of hybrid vehicles. To date, the lack of charging stations in France has made it difficult for drivers to adopt the more eco-friendly method of transportation, and France is ready to change that, in turn reducing their carbon footprint.
A nationwide charging station network will be setup at a cost of approximately 1.5 billion Euro or $2.2 billion USD. The funding will come from a combination of a state loan totalling 900 million Euro that’s set to launch next year using taxpayer money, and the rest of the financial burden will fall to business owners.
The installation of charging stations will be mandatory and must be available in all office parking lots for commuters as well as in apartment building parking lots. France has set the timeline of 2015 for installation in offices and apartment building owners will have until 2012 to help convert drivers to a greener way of life. The timeline for these charging stations couldn’t come at a better time for the nation either since according to Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo fleet operators from the public and private sectors have pledged to purchase 50,000 electric vehicles by 2015, creating an estimated total of 100,000 eco-friendly vehicles that will be driving on the roads of France by that date.
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