Renault
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The Renault Twizy has always been an unusual vehicle, the sole low-speed electric vehicle to carry the brand of a major global automaker. Sold in a number of European countries, it's been tested here and there in North America. To date, the only way to experience a Twizy has been to rent one from San Francisco's Scoot Network, which is offering them on a test basis as "Scoot Quads." DON'T MISS: Is An Electric Scoot Quad (Nee Renault Twizy) Car-Sharing's Urban Future? That's about to change, however. The Renault Twizy has now been certified for sale in Canada as a low-speed electric vehicle...
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Renault Zoe Leads 2015 European Sales Of All-Electric Cars
While sales of electric cars and plug-in hybrids fell slightly last year in the U.S., the sales data for Europe was more encouraging. Almost 100,000 battery-electric cars were sold in the European Union last year: 97,687 units, to be precise. (Data for plug-in hybrids isn't immediately available.)...
John Voelcker -
Nissan To Launch Range-Extended Electric Vehicle In 2016: Report
Nissan will launch an extended-range electric vehicle distinct from the Leaf.
Stephen Edelstein -
Use Old Electric-Car Batteries To Electrify Used Vans, Carwatt Suggests (Video)
It's a frequent question about electric cars: What happens to the battery packs after they reach the limit of their automotive life? The usual answer is that they'll have a second life as energy storage in houses or for other stationary uses. But what if that second life were in another vehicle?...
John Voelcker -
Nissan Electric Cars Will Be For Mass Market: CEO Ghosn
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said the company will concentrate on mass-market electric cars.
Stephen Edelstein -
Wind-Powered Electric Renaults For Rent In Remote Scottish Hebrides Islands
Renault will rent electric cars on Scotland's Outer Hebrides.
Stephen Edelstein -
The Renault-Nissan Alliance has now sold more than 250,000 electric cars.
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Who Drives Electric? Famous Racing Driver Stirling Moss, It Turns Out
Celebrities are always a good way to draw attention to cars. Now the U.K. arm of French carmaker Renault has made a short video about one very well-known driver of its Twizy electric car. That would be none other than Sir Stirling Moss, one of the most famous racing drivers of all time. DON'T MISS...
John Voelcker -
Renault To Return To N America With Twizy Low-Speed Electric Car?
Four of Europe's six mass-market carmakers have long sold cars in North America. The exceptions, for a quarter of a century, have been the two French makers: PSA Peugeot Citroën and Renault. Now it appears that Renault may be considering a return to the continent, using its Twizy low-speed...
John Voelcker -
First Electric Pickup Truck: Renault Kangoo ZE Not For U.S. (Forbidden Fruit)
A French company offers a pickup truck conversion for the Renault Kangoo Z.E. electric van.
Stephen Edelstein -
Nissan And Renault Together Pass 200,000 Electric-Car Sales
A little less than four years ago, the first 2011 Nissan Leaf electric car was delivered to eager buyer Olivier Chalouhi in San Francisco. Earlier this month, Nissan and its partner the French carmaker Renault delivered their 200,000th electric car. DON'T MISS: Three Years With The First Nissan...
John Voelcker -
Nissan's Electric-Car Battery Future: Will It Be With LG Chem?
Nissan is set to close electric-car battery plants in England and the U.S. and turn to Korean maker LG Chem for some batteries. Or perhaps not. A startling and exclusive Reuters report yesterday said that Nissan is in the middle of reassessing its plans for electric-car production and global...
John Voelcker -
Europe's CO2-based taxation system means consumers already have access to a wide range of highly efficient vehicles. There are stricter targets on the horizon however, and Renault is the latest to accept a challenge set by the French government to produce a 117 mpg car by 2020. According to Autocar, the French automaker will show off a 117 mpg concept vehicle at the Paris Auto Show in October. Renault's design boss Laurens van den Acker says the new vehicle is "a really interesting concept", but that it isn't based on an existing Renault platform. The reason for this is weight. While...
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Nissan On Track To Beat 2020 Electric Car Sales Target?
Nissan and its French partner Renault could be on track for selling 1.5 million electric vehicles before 2020, according to the company's latest estimates. The two companies have currently sold around a tenth of that number since each firm released its first electric cars a few years back. But as...
Antony Ingram -
Renault Twingo Live Photos: Smart Forfour Partner Launched At Geneva
The car you see here, the Renault Twingo, will not be sold in the U.S. A car like it will be, though--Smart's next Forfour, and indeed the two-seat Fortwo, have been co-developed with the French brand, so there'll be plenty of similarities between the two. Renault's version of the car is a...
Antony Ingram -
Renault To Add Plug-In Hybrid To Electric Car Range?
Some say that launching an electric car in today's market is still something of a risk. Launching four of them then, as French automaker Renault has done, could be considered suicidal. But Nissan's French partner has forged ahead nevertheless, and it now intends to add a plug-in hybrid model to its...
Antony Ingram -
New Renault Twingo Previews Next Smart ForTwo
Car companies aren't in the habit of persisting with loss-making enterprises, so it's a surprise that Daimler has continued with its Smart city car brand as long as it has. Perhaps the next generation will fare better than previous models, thanks to a tie-up with French automaker Renault. We've now...
Antony Ingram -
Tiny SUVs Shown By Chevy, VW, Honda At India Auto Expo
Automakers unveiled several small SUV concepts at the 2014 India Auto Expo.
Stephen Edelstein -
Au revoir, Renault Fluence Z.E. You were among the first electric cars on the market, and you've lived through Better Place's bankruptcy, but now you're gone. Gas2 reports that Renault has quietly discontinued its electric sedan, which has sold little more than 3,500 units since going on sale in 2011. [EDITOR'S NOTE: We've subsequently learned that this story was broken by Transport Evolved, back on January 7. That site's reporting preceded the article 12 days later on Globes.co, the Israeli business site, which Gas2 used as its source.] Most of its troubles have stemmed from the bankruptcy...
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Formula E Electric Racing Takes To Las Vegas For Demo Run
If publicity is one of electric cars' best assets, then the inaugural Formula E electric racing series has importance far beyond the frivolities of motor sport. From September this year, the series will head to ten cities around the globe and prove that electric vehicles really can be exciting--and...
Antony Ingram -
Renault: 250 Miles For Subcompact Electric Cars By 2020
Save for a few electric vehicles on the fringes of the market--the Tesla Model S, for example, or the tiny Smart Electric Drive--most subcompact and compact electric cars currently offer a range of 80-100 miles. For many people, that's perfectly fine. But it wouldn't hurt to have more, right?...
Antony Ingram -
Battery Lessor For Electric Renault Zoe Can Halt Recharging Remotely
Digital Rights Management, or DRM, is either the scourge of the digital age or a necessary evil to ensure people who create content get paid for it--depending on who you believe. It's essentially a collection of technologies that determines how you can use digital content or technology after you've...
Antony Ingram -
Nissan's Ghosn: We'll Miss 2016's 1.5M Electric Car Sales Target
Renault-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn has admitted the companies will miss out on his original electric car sales targets...and by quite some margin. Ghosn has previously said that the two companies would be on track to sell 1.5 million electric vehicles by 2016. But like so many other electric vehicle...
Antony Ingram -
Will Next Mitsubishi i-MiEV Be Shared By Nissan Too?
Six degrees of separation: The theory that every person on the planet is connected to every other person in six steps or fewer--Elon Musk perhaps, or his polar opposite, Jeremy Clarkson. The automotive world is similar. A new technology partnership between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Mitsubishi...
Antony Ingram