Brussels, 15/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 12 October, the European Investment Bank (EIB) granted the Groupe Bolloré group a loan of €75 million for developing and using a service for shared use electric vehicles in the Ile de France area. On 10 January 2011, the EIB granted this group a loan of €130 million for research, development and innovation for storing electricity and the activities of its electric current management subsidiary IER.
The loan will help fund investment in developing an inter-connected infrastructure of recharge stations and parking on the highway and in public parks; and upstream R&D activities involving the setting up of support technology and automatic systems for subscriptions, invoicing, recharging and controls that facilitate customer and vehicle stock management in real-time.
This new EIB loan accompanies the sharp increase in activities carried out by the Groupe Bolloré in the area of electricity storage and applications. As part of the Autolib' project, Groupe Bolloré has made 1,750 electric vehicles available at 710 different stations. So far, 38,800 subscriptions have been sold, including more than 13,600 premium annual subscriptions. Recently the Groupe Bolloré launched the Bluecar rental project for individual drivers, as well as a project offering electric mobility combined with photovoltaic electricity storage. (OL/trans.fl)