Norman startup Lormaauto delivered the first electrified vintage Twingo to the Normandy region on Thursday, February 15, during a ceremony at the regional institution’s headquarters in Caen. “Our common project is to change the world,” declared Sébastien Rolo, co-founder of Lormauto, during the presentation of the first modernized Renault Twingo, that is, converted from a thermal engine to an electric one.
“I live in Lisieux, I come to work in Argences every day in a re-equipped Twingo, I save 250 kg of CO2 per month and it costs me two euros per hundred kilometers,” says Sébastien Rolo.
“I no longer give a cent to the refiners,” he adds.
The region chaired by Hervé Morin has acquired five cars and plans to rent 100 in the coming months, as many as the urban community of Cotentin. “It’s a very nice story,” says Hervé Morin, who manages a fleet of between 300 and 350 vehicles. “A radically new industrial project is rare, and this one is virtuous.”
An environmental footprint “reduced by 60%”
Founded in 2020, the startup Lormaauto buys used Renault Twingos, built after 2003 with original ABS and airbags, to install an Italian electric motor and cells (batteries) built in France from Chinese batteries.
“The environmental footprint is reduced by 60% compared to a new electric vehicle,” explained Olivier Zanusso, partner at Lormauto. “We are hiring bodybuilders, mechanics, to come see us.”
Olivier Zanusso plans to “re-equip” two vehicles per day in 2024 in a former factory located in Argences, 20 km east of Caen. The city car, with a range of 100 kilometers, is sold for 20,000 euros, maintenance included, with the option of repurchase by the company after three or four years.
The Renault Kangoo and Citroën Berlingo will soon be modernized
The rental offer at 200 euros per month with maintenance included (without insurance) “is no longer competitive” since the recent decrees that eliminate used vehicles from government incentive measures for renting electric cars, according to Olivier Zanusso.
Lormauto is already planning for the future with the modernization of Renault Kangoo, Citroën Berlingo and Peugeot Partner, according to the partner, who insists on the environmental focus.
“We are reusing an existing factory, there is no artificialization of the soil, the heat engines are partly reused, the electrical cables come from Normandy, the paint comes from Normandy,” he says.
And to conclude: “But we will have to wait for the battery gigafactories to buy 100% European.”
Source: BFM TV
