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Recharge Wrap-up: Renault EV movie, H2 fueling in Paris

Renault has debuted a new documentary called Le Peuple Electrique, or The Electric People. The film features two drivers touring France over the course of three weeks in a Renault Zoe electric vehicle. Along the way, the duo meet and come to rely upon other members of the EV driving community. Renault is showcasing the film at the COP21 summit in Paris to give an insight into the culture of electric vehicles. See the film above (it's in French), and read more in the press release from Renault.Nissan and Renault have joined forces for an ad campaign for their electric vehicles. The campaign, which focuses on the Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe, coincides with the COP21 environmental summit, for which the automakers have supplied 200 electric cars as shuttles for attendees. The ad campaign consists of press, posters, and a series of six videos, each 15 seconds in length, to be shown on social media networks in France, the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy. Read more from Renault.Air Liquide has announced a hydrogen fueling station for fuel cell taxis in Paris. Electric taxi company STEP plans to launch a fleet of at least 70 Hyundai ix35 (Tucson) Fuel Cell taxis in the next five years. The fueling station will be located at Cours Albert 1er near the Eiffel Tower, so this is truly in the heart of the city. "This first station will allow us to promote the benefits of hydrogen as a clean energy for vehicles with consumers," says Air Liquide's Francois Darchis. "Hydrogen offers a concrete solution to the challenges posed by the issue of sustainable mobility, reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as local pollution in urban areas." Read more from Air Liquide, or at Technologic Vehicles.The world's largest ultra-fast EV charging station is now operational in Beijing, China. Located at the Xiaoying Public Transit Bus Terminal, the station is capable of charging buses to 100 percent in as little as 10 minutes. It features 25 360-kW chargers and five 90-kW chargers, and enough space for 30 buses at a time. The buses come in to charge two or three times a day during their regular operation. Just in time, too. Read more in the press release below. World's Largest Ultra-fast EV Charging Station Goes Live in Beijing, Fully Charging Commercial Vehicles in 10 Minutes This 26,500 m(2) EV charging complex has 25 chargers at 360kW and 5 chargers at 90kW; maintaining a capacity for Ultra-fast charging 30 urban transit buses at the same time STAFFORD, Texas, Dec.

Renault to alert prosecutors about Carlos Ghosn's wedding costs

PARIS — Renault has found evidence that it paid part of Carlos Ghosn's wedding costs and is preparing to turn the investigation over to prosecutors, two weeks after the French carmaker's scandal-hit chairman and chief executive was forced out. An internal probe established that a 2016 sponsorship deal with the Chateau de Versailles included a 50,000 euro ($57,000) personal benefit to Ghosn, the carmaker said on Thursday, confirming a report in Le Figaro. The carmaker replaced Ghosn on Jan. 24, more than two months after his arrest in Japan over allegations of financial misconduct uncovered by Renault's Japanese affiliate Nissan, which he also chaired. Renault began its own examination of payments to Ghosn within days of his detention but had not flagged any irregularities until now. Renault has discovered that "Mr Ghosn was accorded a personal benefit valued at 50,000 euros under the terms of a sponsorship contract with the Chateau de Versailles," the company said in a statement on Thursday. "Renault has decided to bring these findings to the attention of the judicial authorities." The office of Ghosn's Japanese lawyer Motonari Otsuru did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ghosn remains in detention in Tokyo with limited opportunity to respond publicly to allegations against him. Renault had agreed before the wedding to sponsor 2.3 million euros of Versailles renovations in return for a credit granting the carmaker services from the chateau worth 25 percent of that amount, or 575,000 euros, a person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Le Figaro reported that the chateau allowed Ghosn to host his wedding reception on its grounds in exchange for Renault's donations to the Versailles estate, resplendent home to France's last kings. The rental fee was deducted from Renault's credit for use of the Grand Trianon at Versailles on Oct. 8, 2016, when Ghosn and his second wife Carole hosted their wedding reception at the 17th-century palace, the source said. The event had already attracted public attention for its opulence and Marie Antoinette-themed costumes. The Renault board was informed about the discovery on Wednesday, as reported by Le Figaro, the source added. Earnings/Financials Government/Legal Mitsubishi Nissan Renault renault-nissan

Nissan slashes profit forecast as Ghosn arrest hurts brand appeal

TOKYO — Nissan cut its profit forecast for the fiscal year through March on Wednesday to reflect slowing sales, higher costs and the fallout from a criminal investigation of its former chairman, Carlos Ghosn. Nissan Motor Co. expects to post a 319 billion yen ($2.9 billion) profit for the fiscal year, marking a 22% drop from its earlier 410 billion yen ($3.7 billion) forecast. Nissan said the downgrade reflects higher costs in the U.S. from a warranty extension campaign for some vehicles and falling sales due to "corporate issues," alluding to the Ghosn scandal. Ghosn was arrested in November and is facing charges of underreporting his income and breach of trust. He says he is innocent. He was released on bail in March and is awaiting another court decision on bail after his re-arrest on April 4. Nissan, which is allied with Renault SA of France, has seen sales lag in France and Japan, where Ghosn is widely known. In the U.S. and China, buyers aren't as affected by the scandal, but the markets there overall have slowed. Other factors contributed to the revision, such as production not keeping up with demand for the Note, an extremely popular model in Japan. But the high-profile scandal has weakened the brand appeal of the maker of the Leaf electric car, Infiniti luxury model and X-trail sports utility vehicle. Nissan said it expects to sell 5.5 million vehicles in this fiscal year. Earlier it predicted it would sell 5.6 million. The company sold nearly 5.8 million vehicles in the fiscal year that ended in March 2018. The automaker reduced its sales outlook by 0.2% for the fiscal year through March 2019 to 11.5 trillion yen ($103 billion), compared to its previous forecast. It was Nissan's second downgrade for its outlook following one in February that cited faltering sales in China and the U.S. At that time, Nissan also logged costs about 9.2 billion yen ($83 million) related to the alleged underreporting of Ghosn's compensation. Nissan has promised to strengthen its corporate governance to prevent a recurrence of what it says is serious wrongdoing by Ghosn. Ghosn was sent by Nissan's French alliance partner, Renault SA, to help turn the Japanese automaker around when it was near bankruptcy 20 years ago. The future of the alliance is one of many questions clouding Nissan's future following Ghosn's ouster since he was the main liaison for the alliance, which includes smaller Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors.