Filed under: Concept Cars, Hybrids/Alternative, Sedans/Saloons, Green, Renault
Renault debuts electric sedan in Israel
A landmark was recently passed on Israel's road to reduced dependance on foreign oil when Renault and Project Better Place held a demonstration of an electric car that will hit Israeli streets next year. For those unacquainted with Project Better Place, the Silicon Valley start-up headed by tech guru Shai Agassi has teamed up with Renault-Nissan to build and deploy fully electric Meganes in the seaside Middle Eastern country. The batteries that will power the vehicles are built by a joint-venture between Nissan and NEC, have a 125-mile range and will be supported by half a million charging stations and hundreds of battery-swap stations. Those specs should be enough to satisfy drivers in a country barely 60 miles between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and 260 miles from the Red Sea to its border with Lebanon. An initial launch fleet is scheduled to hit roads next year before sales begin in late 2010. The hope is that Israel will prove a suitable test case before the project can be launched in other countries. Norway Denmark has already signed on, but suitability for bigger countries (like the United States, where long commutes are commonplace) will largely depend on advances in battery technology.
[Source: Haaretz via AutoblogGreen]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
tankd0g 10:00AM (5/16/2008)
But GM just broke 40 miles per charge. Those euros must be lying.
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Glenn 10:11AM (5/16/2008)
Its electric only, as in a dedicated electric car. No internal combustion engine. If gm made an all electric it would also have more range then 40 miles. Americans wouldn’t buy it though. It’s also a full sized car not some tiny golf. And yes, the golf was a hell of a lot smaller 15 years ago then it is now. Why is it that the criticism of new electric vehicles seems to always come from the stupidest of the autoblog population? If they made a full sized hybrid pickup that somehow got 25 miles per gallon people would probable go " ha, my miata gets better gas mileage" like that somehow invalidated the accomplishments of said vehicle
Its like people think automotive professionals are just investing billions in new technology when all they have to do is use current technology that everyone knows about.
tankd0g 10:15AM (5/16/2008)
GM did make an electric that went more than 40 miles, they seem to have lost the plans for it. Wtf are you talkign about Golfs for? Did you RTFA are even look at the picture? See that 4 door car there with the trunk? That's not a Golf.
Benoit Cerrina 8:27PM (5/16/2008)
The megane's length in four door version is Length (mm) 4498
The volt's length as a concept is 4318, the maths to know which is bigger should be simple
Stanton 12:02PM (5/16/2008)
@tankdog:
The Volt is a plug-in hybrid. Its intended niche is different from an all-electric vehicle. It's providing a different balance of convenience and economy than the Megane, and comparing their ranges is not a little foolish. Also, the EV1 was way too expensive to build profitably. GM didn't "lose the plans", they decided subsidizing their customers and committing financial suicide wasn't a smart idea.
tankd0g 12:10PM (5/16/2008)
Stanton, the Volt is vapourware, get that through your head. The serial hybrid is a bone headed idea and it's not going to fly. If GM still had a modern EV1 they could be selling them in Israel right now. The swapable battery idea is a hell of a lot better than hauling around a big gasoline engine all day ( and it will be big, bigger than a regular gas engine if it's to power a car and charge a huge battery at the same time).
Stanton 12:36PM (5/16/2008)
tankdog, if GM still had the EV1 they would be trying to figure out why, at well north of $100,000 a pop, they can't move more than a token few off dealer lots.
The Volt is no more vaporware than this electric Megane. Both are being promised for the future. Both are in development. You can't buy either now. Get that through your head. Also, the Volt is not trying to recharge a huge battery pack. It is recharging a small battery pack, one which gives about a 40-mile range.
The swappable battery pack is a fine idea, with the correct, currently non-existent, infrastructure. As a more plausible convenient near-term solution, something like the Volt makes a lot more sense, especially in the States.
xxxxxxx 1:41PM (5/16/2008)
quote: "( and it will be big, bigger than a regular gas engine if it's to power a car and charge a huge battery at the same time)."
The SMALL gas engine only recharges the battey. It doesnt power the car.
The wheels are powered by the battery/electric motor.
Got that right?
tankd0g 1:43PM (5/16/2008)
XXXXXX, umm... You're not even worth it.. Crack open a physics book.
nagmashot 10:03AM (5/16/2008)
woow 15 years after the VW Golf III citystromer...
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mike 10:06AM (5/16/2008)
A TRUE SHAME.
When a tiny Israel is ahead of USA and even ahead of those US states that are trying to do something about global warming (CA,NY).
How is it that we fell so far behind the rest of the world.
Man November 2nd can't come soon enough for me.
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jonathan charak 10:11AM (5/16/2008)
why is this a shame? A size of country does not correlate to amount of achievements it should have. They have a strong education system through the entire country. We have a strong education system in certain areas.
tanooki2003 10:48AM (5/16/2008)
@jonathan charak
Our educational system, even in the areas you are referring to, is not strong when compared to a lot of other countries that are advancing faster than us.
Most people just don't know how far behind we have fallen and refuse to acknowledge it. Sort of like not acknowledging that you are cheering for a losing team, mainly because they had a few great accomplishments in the past.
Americans need to drop some of that foolish pride, realize the weaknesses we have and start taking the right action by improving our educational systems starting with grade schools and especially public high schools. The dumbed down standards we have now does not help our industry nor churn out talented engineers that will make USA a leader once again. If you think I am just blowing smoke think about when was the last time that you bought a TV, Stereo, home theater, or even a computer made in the USA from parts designed and built in the USA, not Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Germany, China,..etc? If you open your MacBook Air I am almost positive you will find most electrical components are not made here.
Don't get me wrong I'm not 'hating' on this country but our pre-college educational systems are nothing we should brag about. In fact it should shame most of us into doing something to change it.
why not the LS2LS7? 12:17PM (5/16/2008)
tanooki:
This country has some kind of massive inferiority complex. The same people that slap the moniker "Euro" on a coat hook because it has rounded corners (to indicate its superiority) think that we can't measure up to other countries in education.
Look at the recent study that showed how far we were behind Finland (I think it was Finland) in test scores in high school. Only problem, in Finland, students are separated into college-track and trade school before you go to high school. So the Finns are only testing the better students they have, while we are testing the entire group, of course bringing down the average.
On top of this, saying poor talent is bringing American companies down is to pretty much ignore that we hire a lot of immigrants in the US. They came here for our colleges and they end up working for American companies.
RMc 10:17AM (5/16/2008)
I believe it way posted only yesterday on Autoblog how GM has successfully broken the 40 mile mark in the range for the Volt in HOPES to sell by 2010 .
Today, we hear that Nissan-Renualt WILL sell a full size four door sedan capable of 125 miles, at least in Israel. This certainly makes the Volt look poor except for the fact that the Volt will supposedly be able to extend it's own range with an on-board generator.
This electric Meganes is a good sign that full electric cars with usable ranges are in the near future and a true reality. I doubt most American's normal commute is more than even 100 miles round trip.
This brings me to my point where I believe that all of the domestic car makers should keep their mouth shut on any new cars or developments in order to create more of an shock when they are actually available. My best examples are the Camaro and Challenger which announced that they are going into production years before they actually become available. By the time that they arrive, the pomp and circumstance has faded to a whisper and the excitement that can create thousand of impulse purchases has dulled like a knife dragged through the sand. Wouldn't it be better if GM delayed debuting the Volt a couple of years and then told us all they we could buy one only a few months after the reveal?
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cm 11:44AM (5/16/2008)
Just to set some things straight:
The Renault Megane is NOT a full sized car. It competes with the VW Golf/Rabbit in Europe, and the Megane Sedan (pictured above) should be the same size as the VW Jetta (the sedan version of the Golf).
Never the less, it is a good job done by the Renault/Nissan alliance. And yes, it does let the GM Volt look poor by comparison.
I guess if GM and Ford would have employed their research centers in Europe also for some of their US lineup, these companies would not be in the trouble they are today. They would have been able to switch faster to fuel efficient cars and buy themselves more time to develop decent hybrids.
why not the LS2LS7? 12:09PM (5/16/2008)
I also read on the internet that California WILL build a 220mph train between Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and San Diego.
Only problem. It isn't true. The project isn't approved and isn't designed.
Go easy on condemning GM and the entire US just because you read a story on the internet promising the moon.
tankd0g 10:18AM (5/16/2008)
If only the USA had some rich and powerful country handing out unecessary charity to them so they could take inititives like this.
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mike 10:52AM (5/16/2008)
Dude this has NOTHING to do with money. It has to do with policies a country makes.
tankd0g 11:00AM (5/16/2008)
Ya right. When a country doens't have to spend a dime of it's own money on it's military, it has everything to do with it's domestic policies.