Blog of RENAULT NISSAN Alliance

Technology rules at TEDGlobal in Edinburgh. Presentations are broadcast live over the Internet and beamed in real time to a simulcast lounge deep in the city’s International Conference Centre where the event is being held this week.

Everybody in the audience, meanwhile, is using laptops, tablets, smartphones and goodness knows what else. And that means most of the attendees will be visiting the Renault-Alliance booth during the day.

Why? Batteries need regular recharging so we have established a Recharge Station at TEDGlobal. Here they can plug in their machines and enjoy a coffee and a chat as their batteries are boosted.

It’s a hugely popular service… ‘a lifesaver’, ‘fantastic idea’, ‘thank you, thank you, thank you’ are just some of the comments we've heard so far.

And what do they chat about to the Alliance team on hand? Funnily enough, most conversations are about batteries and recharging. Not mobile phone batteries but the batteries in electric vehicles.

The Alliance booth has a full-scale cutaway model of the new Renault Zoe which shows how the system works and how, in particular, its batteries are recharged while the car is being driven. We also have a unique LEAF to Home charger on display. This allows a fully charged Nissan LEAF to become a generator and can power a home during a power cut for example.

Some chats start with visitors expressing concern about the need to recharge the battery of an EV… but, following a conversation with one of our experts, they leave realising it’s no different from recharging their mobile, their tablet, their laptop. The message? Making the change from a conventional car to an EV isn’t really so difficult…

Photo credits Ryan Lash