Renault arms entire french town with free electric cars

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Renault wants people to know that it’s easy to go electric.

The automaker giant Renault has gifted an entire village in France its Renault Zoe electric vehicle in a recent power move. The move comes as an effort to demonstrate that EVs are suitable for not only urban areas but also rural communities just as well as gas-powered cars.

Renault offered three-year leases of its Zoe EV to every house in Appy, a small town in the Ariege region of France. There is only one thing the automaker requires them to do: giving Renault periodic updates on whether they like the car and EV ownership or not.

Accordingly, this move will help Renault “understand the way customers interact with and use electric vehicles day to day.”

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Citroën launches $6,000 electric car that a 14-year-old can drive

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Citroën is launching the Ami, a new ~$6,000 mini electric car that can cost just $20 per month and it can be legally driven by a 14-year-old can in France.

 We call it an electric car because it looks like a small city car, like a smart, but Citroën is calling Ami a “light quadricycle.”

It’s accessible to people from 14 years old in France, though the French automaker says that only 16-year-olds on average are going to be allowed to drive in most European countries. Another advantage (or risk depending on how you look at it) is that in some places, you won’t even need a driver’s license to get behind the wheel of an Ami.

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Major cities are introducing noise radars that automatically issue fines to loud vehicles to combat noise pollution

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The measuring devices will be able to precisely measure and locate sounds from moving vehicles, as well as register their licence plates.

Noise pollution is one of the leading health problems in cities after environmental pollution.

In France, a noise radar has been installed to fine the noisiest vehicles, according to Reuters.

The radar isn’t actually the first of its kind in Europe; earlier this year, Switzerland also began installing the first of its own noise radars.

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France’s solar roadway experiment has failed

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 After nearly three years of use, Normandy’s photovoltaic highway is delivering disappointing results

Solar power highways are hitting a roadblock. Nearly three years after France built a 0.6-mile stretch of photovoltaic road in Normandy, the government is deeming it a disappointing experiment.

In 2016, France announced its bold plan to “pave” 1,000 kilometers (around 620 miles) with photovoltaic panels, which would generate 790kWh per day. When completed, the road was supposed to power up to 5 million homes. But that first 0.6-mile stretch, which engineers had originally estimated would power up to 5,000 homes, hasn’t lived up to expectations.

After installation, it was clear that the panels produced by the manufacturer Wattway couldn’t hold up under the wear and tear of highway traffic. According to Global Construction Review, “the 2,800 square meters of solar panels have degraded, peeled away and splintered, and 100m of them have been removed after being declared too damaged to repair.”

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Drones are helping French traffic cops to catch hundreds of dangerous drivers

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While Amazon’s vision of cops going around with shoulder-based “assistant drones” may be something for the distant future, their French counterparts are wasting little time in utilizing the remotely controlled flying machines in their daily duties.

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Will France actually be able to ban all gas and diesel vehicles by 2040?

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The government of France announced plans to end the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles by 2040, with ecology minister Nicolas Hulot unveiling a wide range of targets and initiatives timed to coincide with the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, last week. The announcement was made as a part of the country’s renewed commitment to the goals of the Paris Climate Accords, which were reaffirmed by 19 of the 20 countries gathered at the summit last week.

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Drones to deliver newspapers in France

A drone delivering a newspaper.

It looks like news delivery is another job being obviated by robots.  In Auvergne, France, residents get their daily news the old-fashioned way: through newspapers. But the delivery of said newspapers, apparently, will soon be executed with the help of high tech — because it’ll be done with the help of drones.

 

 

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France proposes to tax the internet

France proposes an internet tax on American companies collecting personal data.

France is seeking new ways to raise funds.  Because of frustration with American technology companies that dominate its digital economy which are largely beyond the reach of fiscal authorities, France has proposed a new levy.  They are proposing an internet tax on the collection of personal data.

 

 

 

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