BMHAVOCATS
Electromobility for Europe
Overcoming Technical, Economical and Legal
Challenges
JANSON BAUGNIET
Brussels, January 16th 2012
Round Table Discussion: Overview of European
Member States Policy
FRANCE
Anouk Darcet-Felgen
Partner
BMH AVOCATS
Paris
e-mail: adarcet@bmhavocats.com
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The road to electromobility: Law of 30th
December 1996
* Article 24 of the Law “about air and rational use of energy”:
French central and local Administrations and State-owned
companies managing a fleet of 20 vehicles and more, shall, at
the time of its renewal, acquire or use at least 20 % of
vehicles (except for heavy vehicles) using electricity,
natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas.
Tax incentives: among other, accelerated depreciation over
12 months for the newly acquired vehicles using electricity,
for the adaptation systems and charging equipment
Call for initiatives in condominiums: the installation of an
electricity distribution network in private parking facilities
can be put on the agenda of co-owners’ assembly
(implementation requires majority vote)
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National Plan for the Development of
electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
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October 1st 2009: French Government announces 14 concrete steps,
among which:
“Calls for projects”:
- public demonstrator fund of 70-million € to
support charging installations projects
- call for projects on “mobility” worth 25 million €
Creation of a production chain for batteries: Renault creates a
battery factory in Flins (40 kilometers from Paris),
investment of the French public strategic investment fund
(“Fonds stratégique d’investissement”, FSI) of 125 million €
plus public loan of 70 million €
Objective of 100,000 electric fleet vehicles by 2015, a group
of 16 of France’s biggest companies and associations of
regional and local public authorities intend to buy
50,000 electric vehicles until 2015, subject to economical and
technical requirements
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Premium of 5,000 € (CO² emission < 50g/km) confirmed
until 2012
Developing charging equipment at home and at work:
installation of electric outlets devoted to the recharging of
electric vehicles in new constructions and office premises
Condominiums: creation of a “right to plug-in” for
lessees and of new rules to ease the submission of estimates
for charging installations to the flat owners’ assembly
Standardization process at a European level towards the
creation of a common electrical outlet
Support to city councils to deploy public charging
infrastructure: application of the principle of the “free choice
of electricity supplier” within the framework of the public
service of electricity distribution
Creation of a subsidiary of ERDF (French public national
network operator) devoted to assist local authorities and
participate in public tenders
Ensure that electricity used by electric vehicles is produced as
much as possible from non fossil energy sources
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Forecasts of the French Environment
Ministry
* 2015:
- 900,000 electronic outlets devoted to the recharging of electric
vehicles in homes or at workplaces
- 60,000 normal charging installations on public roads and in
public car parks
- 15,000 fast charging installations on public roads and in public
car parks
* 2025:
- 9,000,000 electronic outlets devoted to the recharging of
electric vehicles in homes or at workplaces
- 750,000 normal charging installations on public roads and in
public car parks
- 150,000 fast charging installations on public roads and in
public car parks
* Costs: max. 4.7 billion € for charging infrastructure by 2020,
approx. 145 million € to upgrade the power grid until 2015
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“Call for interest” (“appel à manifestation
d’intérêt”): charging infrastructures
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Part of the investment program “vehicle of the future”, worth 1
billion €
Launched on April 27th 2011
Application deadline: December 16th 2013
Managed by the State Agency for Environment and Energy
Management (ADEME)
Aims at supporting financially the deployment of charging
infrastructure on public roads by granting subsidies to the
municipalities
3 kVA-charging infrastructure privileged
A pricing mechanism minimizing the environmental impact and
favoring charging stations providing 3 kVA will be appreciated
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Law of July 12th 2010 (“Grenelle II Law”)
* Article 57 provides for changes in several French Laws:
Municipalities or public inter-municipality cooperation
establishments can construct and maintain charging
infrastructures or set up a service including the construction,
the maintainance and the operation of charging
infrastructures
“operation“ can comprise the purchase of
the electricity necessary to fuel charging installations
The public distribution network organizing authority and the
operator of the public distribution network shall deliver an
opinion about the project of charging infrastructures
The construction, configuration, location of charging
infrastructure shall be included as a parameter in the
„urban mobility plan” (“plan de déplacement urbain”) (to be
established in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants)
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Example of a car-sharing activity of
electric vehicles: Autolib’
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car-sharing service of electric vehicles and charging stations
launched in Paris and the Paris suburbs on December 5th 2011
250 electric vehicles and rental stations, approx. 1,400 charging
stations (objective by June 2012: 1,740 electric vehicles, 1,100
rental stations and 5,000 charging stations; by end 2013: 3,000
electric vehicles, number of rental and charging stations unchanged)
Rental fee (source: http://www.autolib.eu/nos-tarifs/):
(1) La facturation des locations et des recharges est calculée prorata temporis sur la base de la durée de location ou consommation réelle
arrondie à la minute supérieure sauf pour les 20 premières qui sont indivisibles (facturation minimale).
(2) Les 20 premières minutes de la première demi-heure sont indivisibles (facturation minimale).
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Focus 1: charging infrastructure in private
housing
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Grenelle 2 Law (article 57):
Every newly built residential complex (= at least two
residential units) with securized parking spaces or an
individual parking garage must be equipped with cables,
cable ducts and safety equipment needed to install charging
electrical outlets for electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid
vehicles
compulsory as long as the request for
building permit is submitted after January 1st 2012
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Modification of co-ownership rules in
condominiums:
the co-owners’ assembly shall put the topic of
works to allow the recharging of electric vehicles
or plug-in hybrid vehicles on its agenda
the decision to install or modify common
electrical installations to allow the recharging of
electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles shall be a
majority vote of all co-owners
the owner or the building management of a
residential complex with secured or individual
parking spaces cannot object to a request of a lessee
regarding the installation of charging
infrastructure without “a serious and legitimate
reason“ (for example pre-existence of such
installations, decision by the owner of the
condominium unit to install such
infrastructure within a “reasonable” timescale)
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the conditions to the installation, operation and
maintenance of charging infrastructure shall be covered
by an agreement between the owner or the building
management and the provider
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Decree of July 25th 2011:
condominiums for which a request for building
permit was submitted after January 1st 2012:
cable ducts and conduits must be
installed to connect a low-voltage board
to at least 10 % of the parking
spaces, with a minimum of 1 parking
space
all or some of the parking spaces shall
be designed so as to allow subsequently
the construction of charging points with
a device to capture individual
consumption
a ministerial order shall define the characteristics
of the “normal charging outlet” to be installed
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lessee’s “right to charging”: prior to the works purporting
to the installation of a charging infrastructure and a
device to measure its individual consumption, the lessee
shall inform the owner per registered letter and address a
detailed description of works. In co-owned buildings, the
involved co-owner shall notify the building management to
put this topic on the agenda of the next co-owners’
assembly
if the owner or the co-owners’ syndicate opposes the works,
they shall petition the local Court within 6 months
following the receipt of the lessee’s information letter
if the owner or the co-owners’ syndicate decides to perform
the works but exceed the 6-month timeframe following
receipt of the lessee’s request, the latter can perform them
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Focus 2: charging infrastructure in office
buildings
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“Grenelle 2“ Law of July 12th 2010:
employers can take over the charging costs of their
employees’ electric vehicles and authorize recharging in
office premises
already built office buildings used mainly as workplace and
with parking lots for employees’ cars must be equipped with
charging infrastructure before January 1st 2015
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Decree of July 25th 2011:
for newly built office buildings (i.e. those
whose request for building permit was submitted after January 1st 2012) the owner
shall electrify the car park and all or some of
the spaces must be designed to allow the
construction of charging stations on a minimum of 10 % of all spaces with a device
measuring the individual consumption of
electricity
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for “existing buildings” (i.e. those for which a request for building permit was submitted before January 1st 2012), the owner shall install a low-voltage circuit to connect a low-voltage board to charging stations, this circuit shall cover at least 10 %
of the parking spaces in urban areas with more than
50,000 inhabitants, 5 % in other cases, provided
that:
the car park comprises more than 20
spaces in an urban area of more
than 50,000 inhabitants, or, in other
cases, more than 40 spaces, and
the building and car park is owned
and occupied by one and the same
person
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Focus 3: charging stations on public
domain
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Article 57 of the “Grenelle 2” Law has created the basis of a
“public service” for the installation of charging infrastructure on the
French territory: municipalities or public inter-municipality
cooperation establishments can spur the installation of these
infrastructure, for example through PPPs or amendments to existing
public service delegation contracts (esp. for car park operators)
Example of Autolib’: public service delegation contract
signed with Bolloré
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An “authorization to occupy the public domain” shall be obtained
from the competent local authority.
The (private or public) operator of the charging stations is in charge
of the supply of electricity and shall conclude a supply agreement
with the electricity supplier of its choice
“Green Paper on recharging infrastructure accessible to the public
for carbon-free vehicles” (Member of the Senate Louis Nègre, April
26th 2011) recommends that recharging electric vehicles on public
domain be part of a global service agreement to be concluded with
the consumer
electricity tariff is not identifiable in the
contract price and can be adjusted
This recommendation was followed by Autolib’ and
seems to reflect future common practice
Counterexample: the charging stations operated by the
Paris municipality on public roads are free of any cost for
the consumer
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Focus 4: recharging price
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Economic study by Corporate Value Association (CVA) (in “Green
Paper on recharging infrastructure accessible to the public for
carbon-free vehicles”) : should the costs of public/private
recharging infrastructure be borne solely by the consumer and
based on a fleet of 3,300 electric vehicles in a city with 500,000
inhabitants, the price for a 25 kWh-recharge would be between 13 €
for a 3 kVa-charging station and 36 € for a fast-charging station (43
kVa). The cost of electricity for such recharge would be approx. 2 €
under this assumption, infrastructure costs would negatively
impact on the competitiveness of electric vehicles
this should be taken into consideration by local authorities to
determine the number of charging stations to be constructed
the deployment of “secondary” shared charging stations in
on-street parking, at places of employment, hotels, shopping
centers, restaurants, etc. seems economically more efficient
and would trigger market growth
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Example of Autolib’:
all stations can be used for recharging private electric
vehicles other than Autolib’s, subject to subscription to the
recharging service (180 € per year)
Recharging prices (source: http://www.autolib.eu/nos-tarifs/):
(1) La facturation des locations et des recharges est calculée prorata temporis sur la base de la durée de location ou consommation réelle arrondie à la
minute supérieure sauf pour les 20 premières qui sont indivisibles (facturation minimale).
(2) Les 20 premières minutes de la première demi-heure sont indivisibles (facturation minimale).
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Remaining legal issues
- Specific parking rate for users of shared electric vehicles? A
preferential rate might conflict with the non-discrimination
principle between users of a public service
- Uncertainty regarding the price for the electricity from
charging infrastructure: “instant” tariff or specific tariff to
dissuade from recharging at peak times of electricity
consumption or to promote mobility services such as carsharing of electric vehicles?
- High cost of charging infrastructure and the will to deploy
massively charging infrastructure in the domestic sphere,
public spaces and office buildings will require new business
and legal models to overcome the inevitable end of public
subsidies and achieve a mature market
- Need to design a legal framework to favor the supply of
electricity from renewable sources in charging infrastructure
BMHAVOCATS
We thank you for your attention.
Anouk Darcet-Felgen
BMH AVOCATS
29 rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré
75008 Paris
tel : (33) (0) 1 42 66 63 19
fax : (33) (0) 1 42 66 64 81
e-mail : adarcet@bmhavocats.com
website : http://www.bmhavocats.com