French Postal Service Solicits EV Makers

PARIS – The French post office this month will invite seven manufacturers, including an American company, to bid for a contract to build 500 electric vehicles to be used on urban postal routes.

The contract almost certainly will re-launch an EV industry that has been relatively moribund in France since 2003, as a successful operation could lead to La Poste buying 10,000 EVs by 2013.

“We were surprised at the response” to a preliminary announcement in April, a La Poste ...