Frankfurt Preview: Renault planning 3 electric vehicles
Kangoo be bop Z.E. - Click above for high-res image gallery
The Frankfurt Motor Show will see three new electric vehicles on the Renault stand, including a concept previewing an all new model. The concept is expected to be based on the same dedicated platform that alliance partner Nissan is using for its new EV coming in 2010. The Nissan EV should appear later in the fall at the Tokyo show. Renault development chief Christian Steyer told AutoCar that the EVs will get some distinctive styling to set them apart from the rest of the lineup.
In addition to the cars, Renault will apparently be showing off both fast charging technology and battery swapping equipment. In addition to the dedicated EV concept, Renault is also expected to show production electric conversions of the Megane and Kangoo. The Megane will be the first EV to go on sale in Israel under the Renault-Nissan partnership with Better Place.
Gallery: Renault Kangoo be bop Z.E.
[Source: Autocar]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
downtoearth 1:07PM (6/18/2009)
I've got an idea for Autobloggreen writers.
Key aspect to electric car success is durability of its batteries. It will decide how soon immense replacement cost strike. Very little overall is written about this subject.
First 100 of Tesla Roadsters were sold in 2006, that's 3 years from now. Maybe someone of you could contact owners of these vehicles and interview them about how much of their range has remained through this time and what their driving patterns are.
That would be extremely valuable since it would tell us how feasible battery technology for (extended range) electric cars actually is.
Consider that mainstream manufacturers, like Toyota, deploy the fleet of plug-in hybrids to harvest such experiences. It has to be very valuable to have this know-how.
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Sam 2:06PM (6/18/2009)
If your with better place you wont have to worry about the Battery
Snoopy 5:05PM (6/18/2009)
You know, this isn't a bad idea at all.
You guys may also want to try and get in touch with Toyota RAV4 EV owners as well. Some of them have had their cars for nearly 10 years.
lne937s 12:12AM (6/19/2009)
I wouldn't look to Tesla for reliability info on lithium ion batteries- they just link together a bunch of laptop batteries rather than using batteries designed for automotive use.
Nissan (partner of Renault), on the other hand, has been developing their own lithium Ion batteries (rather than outsourcing) for the past two decades and had them in the Altra EV fleet vehicle a decade ago. The also had a lithium Ion battery in the Hypermini earlier this decade. I should hope that the decades of development would be paying off now. If anybody can pull it off, I would think it would be Nissan/Renault due to the time and investment dedicated to it.
Paul Scott 2:01AM (6/19/2009)
First off, the Tesla Roadsters that were sold 3 years ago were only recently delivered to the customers. There are over 500 on the roads today with about 100 more delivered each month. Most have only had their cars for a few weeks to a few months.
However, as Snoopy alluded above, there are a few hundred RAV EV owners with 6-9 years of experience driving those Toyota EVs. As one of them, I can attest to this car's excellent durability. My RAV has 71,000 miles on it and the range hasn't diminished one bit.
There are a few RAVs with well over 100,000 miles that have experienced battery pack degradation. The longest achieved about 155,000 miles before the owner had a replacement pack installed.
These are nickel metal hydride (NiMH) cells made by Panasonic, a very good battery indeed. The new EVs are all going to LiIon batts. The weight to energy ratio is much better and the cycle life is good, although there are still questions about calendar life.
The cost is dropping pretty fast. While some variations of LiIon are still around $1,000/kWh, we're seeing some prices getting close to $500/kWh, essentially the breakeven point with internal combustion.
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Electricnick 3:04PM (6/19/2009)
Other blogs have already reviewed those questions. For instance... hum, electricnick.com? You can find a lot test driving.
We are about to sit down with a Tesla owner and get the latest.
The Electricnick.com team.
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