Prepare yourself for a shock! Renault is set to be crowned the king of electric cars when it unveils an entire family of EVs at the IAA Frankfurt Motor Show, Auto Express has learned.
The French firm’s show stand will make history – as the first from a mainstream car maker to only feature battery-powered cars. The company is set to take the covers off an unprecedented four never-seen-before electric concepts
Renault has its sights set on becoming the world leader in electric vehicle technology. And heading the line-up is a new supermini-sized offering. Designed from the ground up to be fitted with a compact lithium-ion battery pack and high-performance motor, it’s the first in a new wave of purpose-built electric cars, rather than a retro fit to a combustion-engined model.
Sharing a platform with Nissan’s Leaf EV will keep the price down, while packaging tricks such as placing the battery pack under the floor will maximise interior space.
Also bursting on to the scene at Frankfurt will be a city car concept, a prototype of which is shown here in our exclusive spy shot. It will go head to head with Toyota’s upcoming electric variant
of the iQ and the Smart EV.
An all-electric conversion of the current Mégane will break cover, too – marking a significant step for the firm. The converted hatch will be the first Renault to go on sale in Israel, a country with a rapidly developing EV infrastructure. Completing the Frankfurt stars will be an updated version of the Kangoo Be Bop EV mini-MPV.
The electric motors will range from 50kW to 100kW, or 70bhp to 140bhp in more conventional terms. That means acceleration should be comparable to a 1.6-litre hatchback, delivering 0-60mph in around ten seconds. More intriguing, though, is Renault’s claim that the top speed of each electric car sold will be specific to the country in which it’s registered. UK cars, for example, will be capped electronically at 70mph.
Depending on the weight of your right foot and whether you call the air-conditioning into action, the range on a full charge for all these models should be in the region of 60 to 110 miles.
By Renault’s calculation, even when you factor in the cost for hiring the battery pack, running one of its EVs will cost 20 per cent less than a petrol or diesel model, based on driving 9,000 miles a year. But of course, the major benefit is zero emissions. Even when you consider the air pollution caused in producing the electricity, these are cleaner and more efficient machines.
However, the public will have to wait until 2011 before they can pick up a battery-powered Renault. But you might just spot one on the road as soon as 2010, when the firm will be testing them in the UK. For more details click here.
Thanks to: Auto Express
