renault @ Frankfurt : 4 other ugly cars, but electric cars

[groar]

2009 FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Could Ze Renault ZE Concepts Reach Production? | Auto Shows Blog & Discussion at Automobile Magazine

For technical information and a 8 min video with the charge modes, see this in French or through google translate (sorry video not translated











Denis.

[Christopher Jordan]

Many concept electrics were on a Gizmag link sent to me, and an article about electric cars was in the local newspaper this morning. Rather surprising at the end of summer and not the beginning around here- always enjoyable for me!

[solarguy]

The LED strip head lights are intriguing. I wonder if they are functional?

The mini-bubble car is pretty goofy/ugly.


Finest regards,

troy

[Piwoslaw]

That last one looks like a moon buggy that the astronauts rejected to drive. Ble

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by solarguy

The mini-bubble car is pretty goofy/ugly.

I think that crosses the line from ugly to Fugly.

[Christopher Jordan]

Originally Posted by The Atomic Ass

I think that crosses the line from ugly to Fugly.

Sort of: but my very first car was a 1959 Renault Dauphine. Now in comparison- the Dauphine was fugly, but these 4 were from hmm to interesting to double hmm to *groan*!

Did you know that you can hot-wire a Dauphine with a long shortwave radio antennae wire? (Oh - wrong thread; sorry)

[The Atomic Ass]

Originally Posted by Christopher Jordan

Did you know that you can hot-wire a Dauphine with a long shortwave radio antennae wire? (Oh - wrong thread; sorry)

[Christopher Jordan]

That was my very first eco-mod: running a thick copper wire from under the front bonnet where the battery was all the way along the top drip canal to the back of the car where the motor was. The wiring in those Renaults were always messing up, but I don't think that solution did!

Those cars have a Ferlac clutch where you touch the gearshift and the current flowing through you is grounded and engages the clutch. Never did work right! D-D.E.

[AJI]

Apologies for digging the thread up, but better this than starting a new one on the same subject.

Surprises me how little love there seems to be for these electric concepts, given not only how important they are (Renault is making a massive commitment and taking quite a risk releasing four EVs all at the same time), but also that most of the criticism seems to be aimed at their styling, in a forum that likes the Prius and likes Geo Metros and Honda Civics covered in bits of coroplast...

Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder and apart from perhaps the Fluence, the others couldn't be called "pretty" as such, but at least they're interesting, and not only that, but they actually work.

Autocar magazine in the UK has tested the Twizy (the small, two-seater city car). The vid is below:

Steve Cropley, the tester, is a fan of these sort of cars and in the last year or so has also driven the Tata Nano and a prototype of Gordon Murray's T25 city car. He seems to give the car a fair bit of praise and I think I'm prepared to trust his judgement. I can't wait to see what a production Twizy will look like.

[MetroMPG]

I remember Cropley's Tata Nano review - he was surprisingly impressed.

He's definitely not cut from the same cloth as the average reviewer. Especially not the same cloth as the average North American reviewer! (And I think that's a good thing.... meaning he doesn't drink the same "POWAAAHH!" Kool-Aid that the majority of the motoring press seems to.)