Renault ZOE Sport Concept Lights Up Geneva

The Renault ZOE is a slightly smaller cousin to the Nissan LEAF — a battery electric four door sedan suitable for getting most people and their families from here to there and back again using electrons instead of molecules. A perfectly fine car, in other words, and one of the best selling electric cars in Europe, but not a car one would normally associate with the word “performance.” Renault is largely unknown to American drivers, but it has a long history of success at the top levels of international motor racing and has produced some superb road cars with sporting pretensions over the years. It has been involved in Formula One for decades and currently is the factory backer of the e-dams Formula E effort. Its Alpine division was once a force in rally competition.

40 years ago, some Renault engineers with deliciously deranged minds took an ordinary Renault 5 front wheel drive sedan, known in the US as the LeCar, stuffed it full of a mid-mounted turbocharged engine, converted it to rear wheel drive, expanded the rear track by about 2 feet and voila! The insanely fast Renault Turbo 5 was born. The children of those engineers must still work for the company. They have to conspired to put together a sporting version of the ZOE known as the ZOE-e and it’s brilliant.

Drawing on the knowledge gained from its Formula E program, the ZOE-e is a purpose built carbon fiber two seat sports coupe with an awe inspiring 460 horsepower. It has two identical electric motors — one in front and one in back. To put things in perspective, the Formula E car is limited to a maximum of 270 horsepower. The ZOE-e tips the scales at around 3000 lbs including its 40 kWh battery and can scoot to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds.

Where the Turbo 5 was no svelte ballet dancer, sacrificing styling for brutish performance, the ZOE-e is molded and sculpted into a work of art that features excellent aerodynamics. It is painted the same Satin Blue as the e-dams Formula E racer with tasteful flashes of yellow scattered around the exterior. Inside, driver and passenger are cossetted in Recaro racing seats. The entire car conforms to FIA crash standards for racing vehicles. The driver can select from three power modes and the car has a range of about 125 miles — assuming the driver can resist the urge to mash the go pedal constantly.

The ZOE-e is just a concept — one of those cars that manufacturers bring to major car shows like Geneva to make people’s hearts beat faster. Are there plans to put the ZOE-e into production? No, not that anyone is talking about publicly. But the fact that it exists is a sure sign the electric car revolution is in full swing and the future will not be devoted exclusively to boring autonomous transportation pods. There is still hope for those of us who like cars and enjoy driving con brio. Build it, Renault. They will come.

Source: Electric Cars Report

BYD Now Third Largest Electric Car Manufacturer

In global sales, BYD is now third in total sales of electric cars (including plug-in hybrids). Nissan-Renault leads with 369,000 (the Renault Zoe is very popular in France and the rest of Europe). Tesla is in second place with 164,000 cars sold and BYD is just a tick behind with 161,000 sales. Those numbers were as of the end of September. When the final numbers are in at the end of this year, BYD may have vaulted into sole possession of second place.

BYD Tang plug-in hybrid SUV

Most of the company’s sales are in China, with some cars sold in South America. Through the end of September, it reported 74,030 worldwide sales in 2016 versus Tesla’s 54,043. It is now selling about 10,000 cars a month. Most popular are its Qin plug-in hybrid sedan and its powerful Tang plug-in hybrid SUV. The Tang is said to be as fast as a Corvette. It is the best selling “new energy car” in China so far this year.

BYD also offers the e6 all electric car, launched in China in 2010. The e6 was certified for sales in the US by the EPA from from 2012 through 2014. In the American market, it was used primarily by taxi services. It is also sold in Spain, Columbia, and a few other markets. The 5 door hatchback car has proven popular with taxi fleets in those markets as well.

BYD also has a thriving electric bus business in China, Europe, and the US. It builds buses in the United States in a factory in Lancaster, California. As the company learns more about the American market, we can expect it to begin selling its cars in the US within the next few years. The Tang SUV should appeal strongly to US shoppers who want a sport utility vehicle that also has a lower carbon footprint.

Source: Hybrid Cars  Photo credit: BYD

40 kWh Battery Gives Renault Zoe 400 Kilometer Range

The Renault Zoe was the best selling electric car in Europe in 2015, even though its range with a 22 kWh battery is only about 85 miles. At the Paris auto show, Renault quietly announced it has increased the size of the Zoe’s battery to 40 kWh, giving the small sedan 400 kilometer of range in the European driving cycle. Renault estimates its real world range at 186 miles in urban and suburban driving at 186 miles. Since the Zoe and Nissan LEAF are corporate cousins, improvements to one may offer hints about improvements to the other.

“This month Renault surpassed 100,000 electric vehicles sold and now ZOE will travel up to 250 miles (400km) without recharging. We are continuing to push in areas where innovation matters most for Renault customers. Making it easy for them to choose electric, with new connected services to enhance their driving experience, is a top priority for us and for ZOE customers,” said Renault CEO, Carlos Ghosn.

The new Z.E. battery has almost twice the capacity of the standard 22 kWh battery. It was developed in partnership with LG Chem and uses high density lithium ion technology. LG Chem and Renault were able to increase the energy density of the battery without adding more battery cells. That means it will fit in the same space as the older battery. The engineers also kept it from being significantly heavier.

Renault is pioneering battery leasing programs. The Zoe itself retails for a feather light 23,600 euros. After that, buyers can chose battery leasing plans as low as 69 euros a month up to 119 euros a month, depending on how miles will be driven. Battery leasing eliminates two worries many EV owners have — premature battery failure and technological obsolescence.  It’s a wonder other companies haven’t thought of leasing the batteries in their cars.

For the moment, the Renault Zoe is the lowest prices long range electric car in the world. Everyone invested in the coming green car revolution is anxious to see that record broken many times over in coming years.

Source: Electric Cars Report, AutoBlog

Renault going with EV push at COP21

Renault is looking for the proverbial home court advantage to spur electric-vehicle sales at the United Nations' COP21 United Nations Climate Change Summit in Paris. The French automaker has deployed a fleet of 200 EVs to shuttle delegates during the confab, which started November 30 and ends today. In fact, the Renault-Nissan Alliance has invested more than $4 billion in electric-vehicle technology and is looking for the green-minded event to improve the automakers' return on investment.

As part of the conference, Renault is publicizing recent patents that have led to shorter charging times and longer single-charge range figures for models such as the Renault Zoe. Renault also says its Zoe sales have surpassed 30,000 units in Europe while its Kangoo Z.E. sales have topped 20,000 units. Renault is also touting its position as the electric-vehicle expert for the Formula E electric-vehicle racing circuit. See more information from Renault here.

The Alliance said in September that it had moved more than 265,000 electric vehicles globally, or more than General Motors and Mitsubishi (the two next-largest plug-in vehicle sellers) combined, and accounts for about one in four EVs since the Nissan Leaf started sales a few years back. That said, companies such as Volkswagen and BMW had been making inroads into the Alliance's EV leadership this year, and the 2015 market share of the Alliance had been trending more towards about 18 percent through the first eight months of the year. You know, a new Nissan Leaf would probably help turn that around...

Mercedes & BMW Gasmobiles Don’t Even Compare To LEAFs & ZOEs

Years ago, I did cost comparisons of the Nissan Leaf and “comparable” Nissan gasmobiles. I haven’t been doing such comparisons any longer for one simple reason: it’s like comparing apples and oranges.

Basically, the drive quality and convenience level of gasmobiles simply don’t compare to the drive quality and convenience level of electric cars. The smooth, quiet, fast, powerful acceleration of an electric car offers a much better experience for the driver. The ability to spend just a few seconds plugging in when you get home and unplugging when you leave (until this metal snake charger is commonplace, that is), hugely trumps finding a gas station, getting off the road, filling up, paying, getting back in the car, and getting back on the road… while smelling the nasty and toxic stink of gas stations.

Yes, the common “convenience” discussion around electric cars concerns the challenge of charging in public when you need to do so. But that misses the broader perspective and point. For many if not most of us, the convenience of home/workplace charging (something like 95% of charging, depending on the person) vastly outweighs the downside of occasional public charging.

A message from Nissan Leaf owner Brian Kent.

Many people who say that the upfront cost of an electric car is higher than that of a “comparable” gasmobile are basically using factors like the interior trim of the cars and perhaps interior space or gadgets as their comparison values. Again, that simply misses the full picture. If the materials used on your dashboard are really what matter to you, fine — we all have to determine our own values. But I simply can’t imagine many people would weight dashboard materials over drive quality.

Mercedes A180

Mercedes C180

BMW 320i. Sorry for the view on this one — I was actually just eager to take a picture of the EV charging station, and wasn’t thinking about taking a nice pic of the 320i….

As I briefly mentioned yesterday, I recently rented a Mercedes A180, Mercedes C180, and a BMW 320i (within the past two months). The bases prices for these are around $36,000, $40,000, and $33,000, respectively, from what I’ve found. Even though I know all about the benefits of electric drive, I was genuinely surprised a bit to experience how poor these vehicles felt compared to even a Nissan Leaf($29,010 before the US federal tax credit for EVs) or Renault Zoe (~£10,000, or $15,700, + about £70–100, or $110–157 a month for the battery). The drive quality was total crap, imho — another era of technology, an out-of-date era. They were so sluggish, so noisy, so weak and slow. It felt like something was really wrong with them. They were much better than some of the cheaper gasoline-powered cars I’ve rented, but they still felt like they were rotary phones while I had gotten accustomed to cell phones (or smartphones… in the case of Tesla). Or perhaps a more adequate analogy would be that they felt like the computer I was using 10 years ago rather than the much, much quicker, more enjoyable, and sharper one I’m using as I type.

Yes, I enjoyed the quality of the steering wheels, some of the interior materials, and perhaps another feature or two, but it was like moderately enjoying the frame around a picture when I didn’t like the picture. It was like eating a stale, cold piece of pizza rather than a fresh, warm one.

It’s actually very hard to make an adequate comparison, but hopefully the point has been conveyed. And I know that almost anyone who has driven electric cars and gasmobiles knows what I’m talking about. Whether you’re driving a Leaf, a Zoe, en e-Golf, an i3, a Model S, or some other electric car, as soon as you drive a gasmobile again, you can see that EVs will take over the market.

The Most Popular Electric Cars In Europe May Surprise You

I love looking at the Dutch, French, German, and Norwegian electric car sales data, but looking at the bigger European picture is where the real fun is. Throwing everything together from the different countries, it’s hard to have a good idea where they will fall out. Plus, the numbers get bigger.

Before we get into the numbers, though, let me get some big disclosures out there. The registration numbers come from José Pontes, who does a tremendous job pulling together figures from a large variety of official and unofficial sources. However, I used to try this myself, and I can tell you this: you basically can’t find complete registration numbers for any country. So, Jose has to “estimate” for certain types of vehicles and certain models in each of the countries. Then there are some countries where he isn’t able to collect the data at all. Nonetheless, pulling together as many numbers as he can for several European countries, including the ones with the biggest electric car markets, gives us a big-picture view of the European electric car market.

So, using José’s numbers, below are the top 25 best-selling electric cars in Europe, followed by some more comments about the cream of the crop.

Europe EV Sales (May 2015)

May 2015YTD

Toyota Prius PHEV

2,443

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

1,322

Volkswagen Golf GTE

1,226

Renault Zoe

1,137

Tesla Model S

965

Nissan Leaf

871

BMW i3

858

Audi A3 e-Tron

765

Volkswagen e-Golf

404

Volvo V60 PHEV

329

Renault Kangoo ZE

294

Mercedes 350e

255

Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid

216

Volkswagen e-Up!

208

Renault Twizy

208

Nissan e-NV200

186

Mercedes B-Class Electric

161

BMW i8

143

Smart Electric Drive

107

Kia Soul EV

82

Mitsubishi i-MiEV

65

Citröen C-Zero

63

Peugeot iOn

62

Porsche Panamera S E-Hybrid

46

Bollore Bluecar

13

Toyota Prius PHEV

Source: EV-Sales.Blogspot & EV Obsession Get the data

So, it’s a tight race at the top… not! The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is crushing it. Luckily, I finally got to test drive this vehicle recently, so I’ll soon drop a piece here explaining why I think it’s so popular (…but the big points are sort of obvious).

While the Outlander PHEV has a solid hold on #1, the much younger Volkswagen Golf GTE is racing for a spot to the podium too, reaching #2 in May, and now just inches below its twin sibling, the #5Volkswagen e-Golf, in terms of January through May registrations. I imagine it will be sitting in the #5 spot once June numbers come in.

But yes, back to the metal winners. The Nissan Leaf has a safe hold on #2 for January through May, but fell way down to #5 in May.

For the year to date and in May, its French cousin the Renault Zoe is holding steady at #3, thanks in large part to its strong sales in the homeland, France.

The Tesla Model S is nipping at its heels, though, and you know you wouldn’t feel comfortable withthis beast right behind you in any race.

All in all, the #7 BMW i3 and #8 Audi A3 e-tron are putting in a pretty good showing, still accounting for about 7% of the European electric car market each.

It’ll be fun to see the numbers as they roll in next month. I think it’s safe to say the Outlander PHEV is going to hold onto #1 for the rest of the year, but spots #2 through #6 are quite close. We could see a lot of shifting around before this year is up.

Renault Zoe Gets New Motor, More Range

France may not have been as quick to adopt electric cars as some had hoped, but things seem to be slowly changing for the better. Just in time to appeal to a new wave of potential EV buyers is a refreshed Renault Zoe Z.E., which gets a 20% boost in range thanks to lighter, better motor. Can that help improve lagging sales?

The new R240 motor still makes 87 horsepower, and it’s managed to shed a little bit of weight, and squeeze itself into a slightly smaller package. Improvements to the motor, as well as the battery management system, increased range by about 18 miles on the generous European testing cycle. This boosts the claimed total range of the Zoe to about 149 miles per charge. Wow, right?

Well, don’t get too excited just yet. On the same testing cycle, the Nissan LEAF is rated at 124 miles per charge, whereas the EPA gives it a much more realistic rating of about 84 miles. That’s a nearly 50% difference between what European and American testing standards say for the LEAF, and applying the same math to the Renault gives us a “real world” rating right around 100 miles. Still more mileage than most EVs on the market, I’ll grant you, but probably not the 149 miles Renault is claiming. The same can be said of Nissan’s claims to have a 250 mile battery in the works, though if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on Japan before France.

Despite its alliance with Nissan, the Renault Zoe has had to fight its distant cousin the LEAF for the hearts and minds of European EV enthusiasts. The Zoe does arguably have a better financial argument in its favor, thanks to a lower cost and better rental scheme. It’s also arguably better-looking than the LEAF. But it’s also smaller, is sold in fewer markets, and hasn’t enjoyed anywhere close to the LEAF’s success. Just over 12,000 Renault Zoes have been sold since going on sale, compared to over 158,000 LEAFs. Even with the rest of Renault’s zero-emission lineup included in the count, the Japanese-French alliance has only built just mover 200,000 EVs…meaning the LEAF makes up more than 3/4 of the total sales.

Can a boost to range boost lagging Zoe sales? Eh, probably not. What could help, however, is a new program that may offer diesel car drivers as much as €10,000 to switch to an EV. Norway has proved how powerful incentives can be at encouraging EV ownership. A new motor and some extra range is nice, but 50% off the price of a new car is even better.

Nissan and Renault Sell 200,000th EV

With 58% of the market, the Nissan-Renault alliance announced that it has sold its 200,000th electric vehicle. To date, those EVs has covered an estimated 4 billion kilometers, or about 2.85 million miles, saving some 450 million kg of CO2 from entering out atmosphere.

So far in 2014, the two automakers and their subsidiaries have sold over 66,500 electric vehicles, twice as many as their next-nearest competitor, Tesla Motors. Europe has proven particularly hungry for electric vehicles, and this year’s total represents a 20% increase over 2013. The U.S. leads the way in adoptions of electric vehicles with over 67,000 sales to date, with Japan following with 46,000 purchases of its own. Europe trails with 31,500 sales since the LEAF went on sale, though sales are up over 90% this year.

While electric vehicles haven’t been the breakout hit some had hoped for, the word seems to be getting out there as plug-in cars have seen slow-but-steady growth. In the U.S. Nissan remains a sales leader, and the LEAF is a regular contender for the most sales in Norway and continues to set sales records. This year Nissan also began sales of the e-NV200 electric van for commercial buyers in Europe, particularly as taxis, and is testing the waters here in the U.S.

“Renault and Nissan’s electric vehicles are the zero-emission volume leaders and, most important, they enjoy high satisfaction rates from customers around the world,” said Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. “Based on positive owner feedback and the increasing demand for cars that run on renewable energy, it’s no surprise that EV sales are accelerating – particularly in regions where charging infrastructure is well developed.”

Despite a frenzy over several new hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, Nissan has restated its commitment to electric vehicles here and now. More importantly, Nissan is nearing profitability with the LEAF. We may have already reached the tipping point in terms of market acceptance for plug-in cars, and Nissan put together a video to show that once you go electric, there’s no going back.

Source:  Gas2

Mitsubishi Outlander Hybrid Sells 33,000 Units

Mitsubishi has delayed the US launch of its Outlander Hybrid several times already- but that’s not because the award-winning technology behind the PHEV isn’t ready. Instead, it’s because Mitsubishi’s PHEV is selling out in every market it’s being sold in – and Mitsubishi Outlander Hybrid sales just surpassed 33,000 units!

At the moment, Mitsubishi is building Outlander Hybrids as fast as it can – and it looks like North America will have to wait for the all-new, completely-different2016 Outlander before we get a taste of Mitsubishi’s forward-looking PHEVs.

Until then, we have Mitsubishi’s official press release and a chart telling us something Gas 2 readers already know: the plug-in cars are winning!

Cars and CO2 law spurs automotive innovation as electric vehicle sales double in 2013 – Brussels – for immediate release

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) have doubled annually in Europe since they were first marketed in 2010, the electrification section of T&E’s cars and CO2 report reveals. In 2013, provisional sales data from the European Environment Agency show that nearly 50,000 plug-in vehicles were sold, representing around 0.4% of all car sales in the EU.

The top three selling EV models in 2013 were all new entrants to the market (Renault Zoe, Mitsubishi Outlander and Volvo V60 Plug-in). In contrast, sales of the best-selling models in 2012 (Opel Ampera and Peugeot Citroen iOn / C-zero ) both fell significantly.

“Electric vehicles can play an important role in the shift to more sustainable mobility, and their increasing sales are being driven by carmakers’ need to innovate to meet EU CO2 regulations,” said Greg Archer of Transport & Environment.

The report highlights the importance of establishing new car emissions standards for 2025 and 2030 to ensure investment in low-carbon vehicles technologies is maintained. It warns that proposals by German carmakers to include transport in the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) would lead to higher transport emissions, more oil imports and less innovation in low carbon vehicle technologies because the ETS wouldn’t require emissions reductions in the transport sector.

“Including transport in the Emissions Trading Scheme would put a brake on low carbon vehicle innovation. Emissions standards complemented by targets for ultralow carbon efficient cars will ensure the current rapid pace of innovation is maintained,” Archer concluded.

The report shows sales of electric cars in Europe represent around a quarter of global sales. Sales in California are the highest in the world driven by a mandatory but tradeable requirement on carmakers to supply small numbers of these vehicles. T&E advocate a similar policy for the EU rather than encouraging EV sales through the flawed system of ‘supercredits’ that simply reduce the need for carmakers to improve the efficiency of conventional vehicles.

Cars are responsible for 15% of Europe’s total CO2 emissions and are the single largest source of emissions in the transport sector. The EU’s first obligatory rules on carbon emissions require car manufacturers to limit their average car to a maximum of 130 grams of CO2 per km by 2015, and 95g by 2021.

Source: Mitsubishi, via Autoblog.

Renault Zoe Electric Car Road-Test Video: No Translation Needed

What the Nissan Leaf is in the U.S.--the highest-volume battery electric vehicle on the market--the Renault Zoe hopes to be in Europe.

French carmaker Renault has a wide-ranging alliance with Nissan that includes electriccars.

Together, the two carmakers have delivered more than 70,000 electric cars since Leaf production began in late 2010.

The subcompact Zoe five-door hatchback is a size smaller than the compact Leaf, but like the Leaf, it's still the carmaker's only purpose-built four-seat plug-in electric car.

The first Zoe was delivered last December, and cars are now entering dealerships in France.

The video above, from French site Technologic Vehicles, has only a few captions, both in French and English.

The relatively unrelated audio track is bass-heavy but otherwise pleasant English-language vocal pop.

So you can enjoy the three-and-a-half-minute Zoe road test without having to know a word of French.

The test includes a variety of roads, field tracks, weather conditions, urban and rural scenery, and more.

As the reviewers learned, the Zoe electric car does essentially everything that any other car does.

That includes, as it turns out, behaving exactly the same way when driven onto some particularly challenging terrain.

Source: Green Car Reports

First Renault Zoe Electric Car Delivered In France

Just over two years since the first Nissan Leaf wasdelivered to its Californian owner, one driver has the keys to the French equivalent.

The Renault Zoe electric car is a class size smaller than the Leaf, but like the Nissan it represents the first major push from Renault to sell a dedicated electriccar.

Taking delivery of the first Zoe was French Minister for Industrial Recovery, Arnaud Montebourg.

Unlike Renault's larger Fluence, the Zoe is not based off an internal combustion production car. Renault sells the Clio subcompact in Europe, but the Zoe uses a dedicated platform. Sadly, it's also not due in the U.S.

The Zoe unique among current electric cars in costing the same as--or less than--combustion equivalents, once local incentives are taken into account. With a government incentive of 7,000 Euros ($9,200 at current exchange rates), Zoe pricing starts from only 13,700 Euros in France ($18,000).

For comparison, the brand new Clio model now on sale in France starts from $18,800. That makes the Zoe's pricing unprecedented in a market where electric cars typically cost thFirst Renault Zoe Electric Car Delivered In Franceousands more than other vehicles.

Current European leader

Renault currently sells more electric cars in Europe than any other company--albeit still in small volumes compared to markets like the U.S. and Japan.

The French company had sold over 16,600 electric vehicles by October 2012, holding 28.2 percent of the electric vehicle market--not including Renault's smallest offering, the Twizy electric quadricycle.

The competitively-priced Zoe should add to that tally further. Its 22 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack gives it a suburban range of 62 miles in cold weather, and 93 miles in warmer conditions. Official European figures quote a range of up to 130 miles.

An 87-horsepower, 162 pounds-feet electric motor provides drive, while the standard 'Chameleon'charger means buyers can charge at different outputs, with charging times between 9 hours, and as little as 30 minutes for a fast charge. That recently helped the Zoe set a new electric car distance record.

It isn't hard to see the Zoe breaking into the European market in a way the Leaf hasn't really achieved.

How much so remains to be seen--but with chic styling and a tempting price, it could be one of the most significant electric cars yet.