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.
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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.
