La empresa francesa Bolloré inicia la fabricación del coche eléctrico Blue Car

Blue Car es el automóvil eléctrico que la compañía francesa Bolloré ha desarrollado con el fin de comercializarlo a partir de 2010.

Será la primera vez que una empresa fabrique y comercialice en serie un automóvil eléctrico.

El presidente del grupo, Vincent Bolloré, anunció que a partir de 2010 el Blue Car se podrá tener por un alquiler de 330 euros mensuales.

El Blue Car está equipado con una batería de polímero de litio de 200 Kg, tres veces más liviana que la de los coches eléctricos actuales. Con tracción trasera, 3,05 metros de largo y 700 kilos de peso, logra una autonomía de 200 a 300 kilómetros.

La potencia del motor alcanza los 50 kilovatios (65 CV) y puede alcanzar una velocidad máxima de 294 Km/h.

Entre las ventajas está que la recarga total de la batería se puede hacer en solo seis horas.

El grupo Bolloré posee dos plantas donde fabrica las baterías de litio, una en Quimper, en la bretaña francesa y otra en Canadá. Ambas comenzarán la fabricación en serie de las unidades a partir del próximo 15 de junio con el objetivo de alcanzar las 10.000 unidades en 2010, las 20.000 en 2011 y las 30.000 en 2012.

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Bolloré reports 3,300 reservations for electric Pininfarina BlueCar

Back at the beginning of March, Pininfarina began accepting reservations for the new electric BlueCar hatchback, which it co-designed with French battery maker Bolloré. According to the Bolloré Group’s latest financial report, the firms have already collected a whopping 3,300 orders for the electric hatchback.

Pininfarina is planning to lease the BlueCar for €330 per month and hopes to produce 10,000 cars in 2010, 20,000 in 2011 and 30,000 units in 2012. Each machine is powered by an electric motor with 68 horsepower (50 kW) and relies on a lithium polymer battery pack to provide a range of about 155 miles (250 kilometers) per 5-hour charge. 

European car makers Pininfarina and Bolloré have created BlueCar, a vehicle powered by lithium-polymer batteries. Leases for the BlueCar will be available in six European countries at a cost of €330 per month.

BlueCar will be able to be charged from a standard domestic main socket and will have a range of 250 km (153 miles). The car will have a top speed of 130 km/h (80 mph) and will feature potent acceleration, reaching 60 km/h from a standing start (0 to 37 mph) in 6.3 seconds. According to Pininfarina and Bollore the BlueCar will be able to run about 30 km (20 miles) on only a charge of a few minutes. The car will also be equipped with solar panels on the roof to help power the electrical equipments as well as its heating and air-conditioning system. Critics say the solar panels are a cool addition to the car but that it will make the car more expensive.

The lithium-polymer battery inside the BlueCar, also called LMP, will have an expected lifetime of about 200,000km (125,000 miles). BlueCar is also equipped with a battery pack and supercapacitors to capture energy when the car is braking

“In an electric car, supercapacitors draw and store energy generated while the car is braking and feed it back into the system when the car moves off again. The result is greater acceleration, increased range and a longer lifespan for the car’s battery.”

The seat covers are leather-like covers produced from vegetable sources. The BlueCar will be, according to early plans, only available in France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain and Switzerland. Production numbers are set to 10,000 cars in 2010, 20,000 in 2011 and 30,000 in 2012.

The Bolloré Blue Car is a small electric car designed by the battery manufacturer batScap (a joint venture between Bolloré (80% share) and Électricité de France, EDF (20% share) from Quimper, France.

The bubble shaped car, originally code named VBE1, was designed with help by engineers from Renault and was built by the manufacturer to showcase a new range of electric battery power cells. These lithium-metal-polymer batteries consist of a laminate of four ultra-thin materials: (1) metallic lithium foil anode that acts as both a lithium source and a current collector; (2) solid polymeric electrolyte created by dissolving a lithium salt in a solvating co-polymer (polyoxyethylene); (3) cathode composed of vanadium oxide, carbon, and polymer to form a plastic composite; and (4) aluminum foil current collector.

www.batscap.com/en/

www.bollore.com/