Europcar, which is Renault's principal short-term rental partner in Europe, has now pre-ordered 500 Renault electric vehicles for delivery in Europe’s largest cities from the third quarter of 2011.

The move follows on from the original Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two companies at the Frankfurt International Motor Show last September. At the show, Renault demonstrated four cars: Twizy Z.E. Concept, Zoe Z.E. Concept, Fluence Z.E. Concept and Kangoo Z.E, which gave an insight into its forthcoming electric vehicle (EV) range.

This range will be launched from 2011 and will comprise of three models: a family sedan, a small city car and an LCV-version Kangoo for fleets and business users. These will be followed in 2012 by a compact five-seater sedan. After 2012, Renault says that the EV range will continue to expand into all segments to meet the needs of a diverse range of customers.

Uwe Hochgeschurtz, senior vice president of Renault’s Corporate Sales Division, said: 'Renault firmly believes that the leverage created by short-term rentals will help to drive adoption of electric vehicles by individual customers, in addition to its distribution network. As part of our vision of electric vehicles for everyone’s daily use, we are delighted to be teaming up with Europcar, a global provider of mobility solutions. To enable our partner to launch its range of electric vehicles at the earliest opportunity, we have now reserved 500 Zero Emission Vehicles.'