16 September 2003
The government of France announced a “clean vehicle” program to stimulate development of transportation technologies with low greenhouse gas and low pollutant emission. The government will provide additional funding of €40 million over a 5 year period. The program will be coordinated by the Ministry of Environment, in cooperation with Ministries of Research, Transport and Industry.
Please log-in to view the full version of this article (subscription required).
Combined with existing government programs and with contributions from the industry, the national clean vehicle research spendings are estimated at €155 million over the period 2003-2004. The priority research areas are:
- Engines and fuels, including combustion and aftertreatment (catalysts) research (€11M)
- On-vehicle storage of electric power (€7.6M)
- Urban transport of goods technologies, including freight trains and urban trucks (€7.5M)
- Fuel cells (€5.8M)
- Noise reduction (€4.8M)
- Reduction of energy consumption for air-conditioning (€1.8M)
The program also includes a number of measures aimed at reducing emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases from existing vehicle fleets, with a focus on vehicles operated in urban areas.
In 2001 in France, road transport was responsible for 24% of the greenhouse gas emissions, 50% of NOx emissions, and 25% of fine particulate emissions, according to Mrs. Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, the Minister of Environment.
Source: French Ministry of Environment