MUNICH, Germany — The Renault-Nissan alliance and the largest French electric utility, Electricit de France (EDF) have signed an agreement to promote emission-free mobility in France. The move aims at offering all-electric volume vehicles from 2011 — including a countrywide network of battery charging stations.

Both partners plan to analyze the energy demand and the necessary number of charging stations and evaluate the legal situation as well as the technological and financial environment conditions in the time frame through 2010. Then they plan to implement a comprehensive infrastructure for the energy supply of the electric cars in only one year.

The Renault-Nissan alliance has aired the ambition to become the world's largest vendor of electric cars. EDF claims it currently operates the largest fleet of such vehicles worldwide and has gathered experience with these cars over centuries, the company claims.

The French-Japanese car manufacturer has already signed similar agreements in a number of geographies outside of France including Israel, Portugal, Denmark and the U.S. state of Tennessee. "We have decided to introduce zero-emission vehicles as quickly as possible in order to ensure individual mobility against the background of high oil prices and better environmental protection," said Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault and Nissan.