French Prototype / Mule - A Long Way From Home

[MarkJS]

Spotted this last night at Hartshead Moor services. A left hooker on French plates in an electric bay but not plugged in. Any ideas on what it is? Citroen probably? I know it’s not ‘that’ far away from home but I wonder why they’d test it in the UK other than poor road surface quality.

[Mammasaid]

Renault 4 Electric

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/renaul...

Edited by Mammasaid on Sunday 17th November 14:24

[CanAm]

MarkJS said:

Spotted this last night at Hartshead Moor services. A left hooker on French plates in an electric bay but not plugged in. Any ideas on what it is? Citroen probably? I know it’s not ‘that’ far away from home but I wonder why they’d test it in the UK other than poor road surface quality.

The Reg No isn't apparently allocated to a vehicle, but it's registered in the Eure Departement, south of Rouen. Any manufacturers in that area?

[595Heaven]

Yep, new Renault 4. Covers are now off…

https://www.renault.co.uk/electric-vehicles/r4-e-t...

[MarkJS]

Cheers for the replies - very helpful.

Disagree with the movement from General
Gassing to EV. Yes, it’s an EV but more about a new, foreign car (in ‘general’) being tested in the UK and why.

What are the mods going to do when the target of (presumably) 70/80/90% of people are driving EV’s? Lump the whole thing in here?

Common sense required.

[blank]

CanAm said:

MarkJS said:

Spotted this last night at Hartshead Moor services. A left hooker on French plates in an electric bay but not plugged in. Any ideas on what it is? Citroen probably? I know it’s not ‘that’ far away from home but I wonder why they’d test it in the UK other than poor road surface quality.

The Reg No isn't apparently allocated to a vehicle, but it's registered in the Eure Departement, south of Rouen. Any manufacturers in that area?

Is it not the French equivalent of a trade plate? I know a W plate would be, but not sure about WW.

[jon_273]

blank said:

CanAm said:

MarkJS said:

Spotted this last night at Hartshead Moor services. A left hooker on French plates in an electric bay but not plugged in. Any ideas on what it is? Citroen probably? I know it’s not ‘that’ far away from home but I wonder why they’d test it in the UK other than poor road surface quality.

The Reg No isn't apparently allocated to a vehicle, but it's registered in the Eure Departement, south of Rouen. Any manufacturers in that area?

Is it not the French equivalent of a trade plate? I know a W plate would be, but not sure about WW.

It's a temporary plate, used to be able to drive a car until you complete all the formalities to register it properly and get assigned a proper registration number. Why they do it that way I don't know but they do like their layers of administration.

[abzmike]

Just double checking it’ll work on UK charging networks?

[blank]

jon_273 said:

blank said:

CanAm said:

MarkJS said:

Spotted this last night at Hartshead Moor services. A left hooker on French plates in an electric bay but not plugged in. Any ideas on what it is? Citroen probably? I know it’s not ‘that’ far away from home but I wonder why they’d test it in the UK other than poor road surface quality.

The Reg No isn't apparently allocated to a vehicle, but it's registered in the Eure Departement, south of Rouen. Any manufacturers in that area?

Is it not the French equivalent of a trade plate? I know a W plate would be, but not sure about WW.

It's a temporary plate, used to be able to drive a car until you complete all the formalities to register it properly and get assigned a proper registration number. Why they do it that way I don't know but they do like their layers of administration.

If a WW plate is the same as a W then they're used because the car has no type approval so can't be registered in the normal way. France doesn't have a "prototype" registration system like we have in the UK.

To answer the original question, they'll be testing mostly driver assistance systems when you switch to driving on the left, mph etc.

Testing the charging network is kind of a by product, but not really much different to testing in Europe as the charger manufacturers are mostly the same. The network they're attached to is different but that just gives issues with apps, accounts, authorisation etc which are nothing really to do with the vehicle or charger themselves.

[malaccamax]

MarkJS said:

Cheers for the replies - very helpful.

Disagree with the movement from General
Gassing to EV. Yes, it’s an EV but more about a new, foreign car (in ‘general’) being tested in the UK and why.

What are the mods going to do when the target of (presumably) 70/80/90% of people are driving EV’s? Lump the whole thing in here?

Common sense required.

Yeah this is a bit ridiculous. If its from the future it's probably going to be electric