Val Cenis remains in the vanguard of ski resorts focussing on sustainability. This winter the Savoyard ski area are adding their first 100% electric snow groomer (piste basher to the Brits) to their fleet.
The Prinoth Husky eMotion will be used to prepare their cross country pistes, tobogganning areas and pedestrian paths.
Three hour battery life
Typically the battery life for this model is three hours, so the Val Cenis lift company has scheduled sessions of up to two hours each, allowing the groomer to be recharged in between.
The previous snow groomer that this replaces was a proper ‘gas guzzler’ using 17 litres of fuel per hour. The new electric Prinoth model will reduce emissions to only 7% of current levels.
“Electricity consumption is better overall than fossil fuel use. But we still need to cut our energy use this winter,” says Yves Dimier, director of the lift company.