itroen Berlingo electric van

PSA Peugeot Citroen has started delivering its Peugeot Partner and Citroen Berlingo electric vans in France. 1,500 of the EV vans are scheduled to be manufactured through 2011. It's a small number, but bigger than the number of Ford Transit Connect Electric vans that FoMoCo says it will sell in the U.S. next year. PSA has contracted Monaco-based Venturi to supply EV components for the vans including the batteries and powertrains, and Venturi does not anticipate the supply contract to grow to larger volumes. As Gildo Pallanca Pastor, Venturi CEO, told Automotive News Europe:
We are specialized in low-volume production numbers. Eventually, EV vans will be produced in large quantities [on an industrywide basis], but our company will continue to address niche markets.
Speaking of niche markets, 250 of the electric vans have been delivered to La Poste, France's postal service. Also about to hit the market from the French automaker are two small battery-powered cars derived from the Mitsubishi i-MiEV: the Peugeot iOn and Citroen C-Zero. Both are being produced in Japan.

PSA plans on continuing to outsource the development and production of their EVs. Although is offering some EVs, PSA's focus is on hybrids. According to a PSA spokesman it is, "focusing on our first wave of hybrids that will launch next year, which we feel is more important than our EV activity at this time." Hybrids, they believe, will comprise 11 percent of car sales in Europe by 2020. Electric vehicles, PSA expects, will represent only four to five percent of sales.

[Source: Automotive News Europe]