This is how the Renault plant in Flins is becoming a jewel of the circular economy

For those who have followed the world of electric for a while, the name of the Flins factory it will certainly not be new. From these French production lines always came out there Renault Zoe, of which just today we were telling you about the success in Europe. A state-of-the-art plant, which at the end of 2020 the French company decided to transform again, precisely in what it had called a “Re-Factory“.

The clear reference was to the circular economy, driven above all by the adoption of the electric and by the change of certain paradigms. Today we are in the midst of this change, and the four pillars of the transition are in full swing at Flins: Re-Trofit, Re-Energy, Re-Cycle and Re-Start.

With the Re-Trofit the French house has created a pole for the reconditioning of used cars, especially those that fall within the dealerships with buy-back formulas, or even in the case of fleet and car sharing cars. Where a component is found to be non-recoverable, it is necessary to act in another way. And here comes the Re-Energyespecially when it comes to lithium batteries.

Renault was one of the first manufacturers to believe in the electric, and is therefore today with first generation vehicles whose batteries are over ten years old, and in some cases are no longer suitable for automotive use. Like the batteries of the Fluence ZE or the first Kangoo ZE. These batteries in Flins are completely dismantled, and the individual modules are then analyzed. Those that are directly reusable are diverted to the departments of recovery projectswhat instead irremediably broken or degraded is turned over to partners who recover the rare chemicals to produce new batteries.

One of the recovery projects is that of the “Bettery“, pun chosen as the name of a portable generator, made up of several recovered modules, and usable in different contexts. The useful life of the batteries is thus extended.

But even the factory itself can benefit from this practice, thanks to gods containers used as storagealways built with second life batteries, or first-life repaired, which can store energy from renewable sources, and make it usable at a later time. There are already on site approx 15 MWh of storage capacity thanks to this project.

a similar concept, but extended to many more parts, the Re-Cycle. Thanks to these procedures Renault tries to recycle and recover as many parts as possible, to lower the environmental impact and, obviously, also the costs. Above all through the closed loop of materials and raw materials, the exemplification of circular economy, which shortens the distance between producer and user, which in practice coincide here.

The last point, Re-Start, does not directly impact production today, but will perhaps do so tomorrow. There are several projects open to Flins, which it wants to become a center of excellence for innovation and training. The production of over 24,000 parts is therefore studied through the 3D printingor focus on a campus that already has retrained over 300 employees, also through collaboration with external partners. If that were not enough, a department for the production of prototypes of light commercial vehicles has also been added.

The inclusion of the activities of Hyvia. This is a joint venture with Plug Power, with which Renault also wants to develop the mobility sector hydrogenespecially a fuel-cell, or with mixed battery-hydrogen vehicles. You are aiming for a typical commercial van, a city mini bus, and a van cab. But the hydrogen ecosystem is only useful if there is the precious gas and rapid refueling, the real strength. By the end of the year it will also arrive in Flins the first hydrolysis plant for one MW of power, powered only by energy from renewable sources, to produce green hydrogen. Thanks to on-site production, refueling infrastructures and fuel cells can therefore be immediately tested, simulating real use.