Renault Fluence Z.E. | |
---|---|
Overview | |
Manufacturer | Renault |
Also called | Renault Samsung SM3 Z.E. (South Korea) Fengnuo E200 (China) [1] Dongfeng Fengnuo E300 EV (China) |
Production | 2011–2014 (Turkey) 2013–2020 (South Korea) [2] 2016 (China, concept only) |
Assembly | Bursa, Turkey (Oyak-Renault) Busan, South Korea (Renault Samsung Motors) Wuhan, China (Dongfeng Renault) |
Body and chassis | |
Class | Compact car |
Body style | 4-door sedan |
Layout | Front-engine, FWD |
Powertrain | |
Electric motor | 70 kW (94 hp) synchronous motor, 226 N·m (167 lb·ft) |
Battery |
|
Range | |
Plug-in charging | 7 kW on-board charger (max. 240V/30A), optional upgrade to Zoe's Chameleon charger (43kW-380VAC 3phase) |
Dimensions | |
Wheelbase | 2,701 mm (106.3 in) |
Length | 4,748 mm (186.9 in) |
Width | 1,813 mm (71.4 in) |
Height | 1,458 mm (57.4 in) |
Curb weight | 1,543 kg (3,402 lb) |
Chronology | |
Successor | Renault Megane E-Tech Electric (spiritual) |
The Renault Fluence Z.E. is an electric version of the Renault Fluence compact sedan, part of the Renault Z.E. program of battery electric vehicles. It was unveiled by Renault at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. [5] The Fluence Z.E. is outfitted with a 22 kWh lithium-ion battery which allows a total all-electric range of 185 km (115 mi) measured on the NEDC combined cycle, with speeds up to 135 km/h (84 mph). [6]
The Fluence Z.E. was the first modern electric car known to be enabled with battery swapping technology and deployed within the Better Place network in Israel and Denmark in 2012. A total of 948 Better Place branded Fluence Z.E. cars were deployed in Israel and around 400 units sold in Denmark by May 2013, when Better Place filed for bankruptcy. [7] [8] The Better Place version was built at the Oyak-Renault plant in Bursa, Turkey, like the main Fluence trims.
As the Fluence Z.E. phased out, a fixed-battery version called Renault Samsung SM3 ZE was launched in South Korea. It was one of the most popular electric cars in South Korea in the mid-2010s, with thousands sold through 2017. [9] Global sales totaled 10,600 units through December 2019, mostly composed of SM3 Z.E. units. [10]
While Renault didn't offer the hatchback equivalent based on the Megane III hatchback (which the Fluence Z.E. was based on), they later replaced the Fluence Z.E. with a newer, hatchback-only Megane E-Tech Electric.
The lithium-ion battery had a capacity of 22 kWh and weighed 250 kg (551 lb). For the 2018 model year, the Korean Samsung version received an upgrade to 36 kWh. [3]
The Fluence Z.E. is 13 cm (5.1 in) longer than the internal combustion model to accommodate the battery behind the rear seats. [6] [11] The planned Renault battery plant near Paris that was to supply batteries for the vehicle was delayed due to technical constraints. Instead, obtained batteries from LG Chem of South Korea. [12]
Battery charging capabilities included:
The Fluence Z.E. used a synchronous electric motor with rotor coil, weighing 160 kg (350 lb). Its peak power is 70 kW (94 hp) at 11,000rpm, while maximum torque is 226 N⋅m (167 lbf⋅ft). [6] [11]
The Fluences used a PRND gate selector as well as providing a small amount of creep in 'D' to emulate the behaviour of traditional internal combustion engine equipped automatic transmission cars.
Better Place and Renault announced the Fluence Z.E. was the first modern electric car with a swappable battery available on the Better Place electric vehicle network [14] with (QuickDrop) battery swapping technology. Battery switching or swapping is a technology that enables the driver to swap a depleted battery with a fully charged one by going through a battery switch station. In a demonstration with electric taxi cabs run in Tokyo until the end of 2010, the trial battery switch station allowed drivers to exchange their car's depleted battery pack for a 100 miles (160 km) fully recharged one in 59.1 seconds on average. [15] In August 2010 Better Place announced a non-binding order of 100,000 Renault Fluence ZE [16] and four months later Better Place claimed to have sold 70,000 cars from that order, a year away from the public launch of the Better Place network. [17]
Better Place customers needed only to drive up to the entrance of a battery switch station to start the switch process. The Oscar in-car navigation system uses a WiFi connection to communicate with the station's computers and an RFID tag on the windscreen of the subscriber's car identifies it. The barrier opens and the customer drives up to a mark. The dashboard screen and external monitors then give instructions to select Neutral and turn off the ignition. The remaining process is fully automated, similar to going through a car wash, so the driver never has to leave the car. In just a few minutes, a robot beneath the car removes the depleted battery and replaces it with a full one. Once complete, instruction is given to restart the car and an exit barrier lifts. [18]
After implementing the first modern commercial deployment of the battery swapping model in Israel and Denmark, Better Place filed for bankruptcy in Israel in May 2013. The company's financial difficulties were caused by the high investment required to develop the charging and swapping infrastructure, about US$850 million in private capital, and a market penetration significantly lower than originally predicted. About 1,000 Fluence Z.E.s were deployed in Israel, and around 400 units in Denmark through May 2013 when Better Place filed for bankruptcy. [7] [8]
The Fluence Z.E. is available in several European countries and also was sold in Israel through the Better Place network. Since retail sales began in 2011, a total of 3,935 units have been sold worldwide through October 2014. [19] of which, 2,384 units were registered in Europe through October 2014. [20] and around 1,000 units were sold in Israel through May 2013. [7] [8] As of December 2019 [update] , combined global sales since inception of the Fluence Z.E. and SM3 Z.E. totaled 10,600 units. [10]
Unveiled at the 2011 Australian International Motor Show in Melbourne, the Fluence Z.E. was scheduled to be sold by mid-2012, once the roll out of Better Place's battery swap network had begun, initiating in Canberra. In 2011 GE pledged to purchase at least 1,000 of the vehicles in Australia, which would contribute to their goal of purchasing 25,000 electric vehicles globally by 2015. [21] In December 2012, Renault announced that the launch of the Fluence Z.E. was postponed indefinitely following delays with the roll out of Australia's electric vehicle infrastructure. The electric car was scheduled to go on sale to the public from a number of dealers across the country in the fourth quarter of 2012. Better Place explained that delays in the deployments in Israel and Denmark reflected in the Australian roll out, which would take place between 12 and 18 months behind the other markets. [22] However, Better Place filed for bankruptcy in May 2013. [7]
In the 2016 Beijing Auto Show, Dongfeng Renault released a China-made version of the SM3 Z.E. as the Dongfeng Fengnuo E300 EV. [23] However, the car never made it into mass production, possibly because China's EV range standards and associated subsidies were rapidly tightened in the following years. [24]
The Fluence Z.E. was sold in Denmark at a price of 205,000 DKK (€27,496 or US$38,378) including VAT plus the monthly fee for the switchable-battery. Consumers also paid a one-time fee of 9,995 DKK (€1,341) for a private charging station and Better Place offered a choice of five fixed-price switchable-battery packages based on kilometers driven per year. For more than 40,000 km (25,000 mi) a year the monthly fee was 2,995 DKK (€399) per month. [25] [26]
The first Better Place battery switch station in Denmark, out of 20 planned to be deployed across the country until March 2012, was unveiled in June 2011 at Gladsaxe, near Copenhagen. [18] As of December 2012 [update] there were 17 battery switch stations fully operational in the country. [27] Sales through Better Place began in late 2011, and 198 units were sold in Denmark through December 2012. Cumulative sales through April 2013 reached 234 units. [28] However, Better Place reported between 400 and 500 customers by the time the company filed for bankruptcy in May 2013. [8] [29] Renault announced it will continue to provide service for the Fluence Z.E. in Denmark. [30] [31]
In Estonia, Fluence Z.E was originally part of the ELMO program, but has been removed, no reason was given, but it may relate to the lack of availability of the car in Estonia.[ citation needed ]
In France, 2012 prices started from €26,300 before the applicable €5,000 government incentive. [32] [33] The monthly fee for the switchable-battery service start from €82 including VAT. [32] Since 2010, a total of 727 Fluence Z.E.s have been registered in France through October 2014. [34]
Orders for the Renault Fluence ZE began in July 2011 starting at NIS 123,000 (€24.580, US$35,114), a price slightly higher than gasoline-powered car of similar size. Better Place offered five service packages in Israel. The service plans were priced according to annual mileage and also include installation and maintenance of a home recharging station, free access to Better Place's battery replacement stations, battery availability, a computerized driver support system, navigation aids, and roadside service. The cheapest monthly package was NIS 1,090 (€218, US$311) for up to 20,000 km (12,000 mi) a year, and the more expensive was NIS 1,599 (€320 /US$456) for less than 30,000 km (19,000 mi) a year. These prices included VAT. There was also a special plan that includes the cost of the Fluence Z.E. and a 3-year unlimited-mileage package (up to 25,000 km (16,000 mi) a year) for a total of NIS 157,500 (€31,775, US$45,000). [35] [36]
The first Fluence Z.E. production models were delivered in Israel in January 2012, and nearly 100 units allocated among the Better Place employees. Retail customer deliveries began in the second quarter of 2012. [37] [38] As of December 2012 [update] , a total of 518 cars were sold in the country. Sales during the first months of 2013 improved with a total 422 units were sold, bringing the total to 940 units. [39] [40] After Better Place filed for bankruptcy in May 2013, the court liquidator will have to decide what to do with customers who do not have ownership of the battery and risk being left with a useless car. Under Better Place's business model, the company owns the Fluence Z.E. batteries. [41] Shortly thereafter, Renault announced it will continue to provide service for the Fluence Z.E. in Israel. [29] The liquidator will also have to decide about the future of the swap stations. [29]
The Fluence Z.E. is sold in South Korea as the SM3 Z.E. under the Renault Samsung Motors badge. [42] The SM3 Z.E. was unveiled at the 2011 Seoul Motor Show, and entered into series production at the Busan factory during October 2013. The company set a production target of about 4,000 units per year and it is partly financed by the South Korean Government. [2] [43] In 2013, its second year in the market and the first of South Korean assembly, the SM3 Z.E. led electric vehicle sales in the country, capturing a 58% market share of the segment and 453 cars sold that year. The company attributed this to its AC-3 charger, its greater range compared to rivals and a better warranty for the battery. [44]
By the late 2010s the SM3 ZE's role in Korea's EV market diminished, as longer-range models such as Tesla Model 3, Chevrolet Bolt and SUVs from Hyundai-Kia began to dominate. [45] However, as of 2019, the SM3 was still available in Korean market with a 36 kWh battery. Renault Samsung's Electric Vehicle line-up is to undergo expansion in 2022, but it discontinued in 2020.
Renault Fluence Z.E was presumably planned to be also released in Turkey, its country of assembly, at the end of 2011. However, it is unclear whether any local sales have taken place before production there ceased at the end of 2013.
The Fluence Z.E. was released in the United Kingdom in the Spring of 2012 though was withdrawn from sale in 2014. The batteries required a mandatory lease which according to Renault, was the UK's most affordable electric car. By not having to purchase the battery - a value in excess of £7,000 - any issues with the battery over dead cells or depleted range issues are dealt with by an immediate exchange at no additional cost to the owner. [46]
Renault sold only 79 units before the model was discontinued. [47]
This section needs to be updated.(January 2015) |
Year | Worldwide Sales |
---|---|
2011 | 762 |
2012 | 2086 |
2013 | 796 |
2014 | 203 [48] |
2015 | at least 640 |
2016 | 623 [49] |
2017 | 2014 [50] |
Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault, is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company currently produces a range of cars and vans. It has manufactured trucks, tractors, tanks, buses/coaches, aircraft and aircraft engines, as well as autorail vehicles.
Renault Korea Co., Ltd. is a South Korean car manufacturer headquartered in Busan where its single assembly site is also located, with additional facilities at Seoul (administration), Giheung and Daegu.
The Renault Kangoo is a family of vans built by Renault since 1997 across three generations. It is sold as a passenger multi-purpose vehicle or as a light commercial vehicle. For the European market, the Kangoo is manufactured at the MCA plant in Maubeuge, France.
Crude electric carriages were first invented in the late 1820s and 1830s. Practical, commercially available electric vehicles appeared during the 1890s. An electric vehicle held the vehicular land speed record until around 1900. In the early 20th century, the high cost, low top speed, and short-range of battery electric vehicles, compared to internal combustion engine vehicles, led to a worldwide decline in their use as private motor vehicles. Electric vehicles have continued to be used for loading and freight equipment and for public transport – especially rail vehicles.
The Renault Fluence is a compact sedan produced by the French automaker Renault. The car was produced until 2016 at the Oyak-Renault plant in Bursa, Turkey. It was produced until the end of 2018 in Santa Isabel, Argentina, for the Latin American market.
The Renault Samsung SM3 is a compact car produced by the South Korean manufacturer Renault Samsung Motors from 2003 to 2020.
The Renault Koleos is a crossover SUV manufactured by the French manufacturer Renault over three generations. It is primarily manufactured in Busan, South Korea by Renault Korea.
A charging station, also known as a charge point, chargepoint, or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a power supply device that supplies electrical power for recharging plug-in electric vehicles.
Better Place was a venture-backed international company that developed and sold battery charging and battery switching services for electric cars. It was formally based in Palo Alto, California, but the bulk of its planning and operations were steered from Israel, where both its founder Shai Agassi and its chief investors resided.
Battery swapping or battery switching is an electric vehicle technology that allows battery electric vehicles to quickly exchange a discharged battery pack for a fully charged one, rather than to recharge the vehicle via a charging station. Battery swapping is common in electric forklift applications.
An electric car or electric vehicle (EV) is a passenger automobile that is propelled by an electric traction motor, using electrical energy as the primary source of propulsion. The term normally refers to a plug-in electric vehicle, typically a battery electric vehicle (BEV), which only uses energy stored in on-board battery packs, but broadly may also include plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), range-extended electric vehicle (REEV) and fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), which can convert electric power from other fuels via a generator or a fuel cell.
The Renault Zoe, known as Renault Zoe E-Tech Electric since 2021, is a five-door supermini electric car produced by the French manufacturer Renault. Renault originally unveiled, under the Zoe name, a number of different concept cars. Initially in 2005 as the Zoe City Car and later as the Zoe Z.E. electric concept was shown in two different versions in 2009 and 2010 under the Renault Z.E. name. A production ready version of the Zoe was shown at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show. The Renault Zoe is based on the platform of the Renault Clio.
The Renault Z.E. is a line of all-electric cars from Renault. The line began with the Z.E series of concept cars. The first production car is the Renault Fluence Z.E. that was slated for sales to the public in Israel and Denmark by late 2011 as part of the Better Place network, operated by Renault Fluence ZE cars. In 2011 Renault was awarded a contract to supply 15,600 electric vehicles to the French government and the state-owned postal service, La Poste. The vehicles are to contribute to a planned 25,000 electric vehicle fleet owned by the French government.
A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity to store electrical energy within its onboard rechargeable battery packs, to power an electric motor and help propel the wheels. PEV is a subset of electric vehicles, and includes all-electric/battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Sales of the first series production plug-in electric vehicles began in December 2008 with the introduction of the plug-in hybrid BYD F3DM, and then with the all-electric Mitsubishi i-MiEV in July 2009, but global retail sales only gained traction after the introduction of the mass production all-electric Nissan Leaf and the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt in December 2011.
Range anxiety is the driver's fear that a vehicle has insufficient energy storage to cover the road distance needed to reach its intended destination, and would thus strand the vehicle's occupants mid-way. The term, which as of 2010 was used primarily in reference to the practical driving range of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), was considered to be one of the major psychological barriers to large-scale public adoption of electric cars.
The Renault Twizy is a two-seat electric microcar designed and marketed by Renault. It is classified in Europe as either a light or heavy quadricycle depending on the output power, which is either 4 kW (5.4 hp) for the 45 model or 13 kW (17 hp) for the 80 model, both names reflecting its top speed in km/h. Originally manufactured in Valladolid, Spain, production was moved to Busan in South Korea in March 2019 to meet increased demand in Asia. In July 2023 it was announced that production of the Twizy was to end in September 2023; it is to be replaced by the new Mobilize Duo.
The Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, originally known as the Renault–Nissan Alliance, is a French-Japanese strategic alliance between the automobile manufacturers Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, which together sell more than one in nine vehicles worldwide. Renault and Nissan are strategic partners since 1999 and have nearly 450,000 employees and control eight major brands: Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Infiniti, Renault Korea, Dacia, Alpine, and Venucia. The car group sold 10.6 million vehicles worldwide in 2017, making it the leading light vehicle manufacturing group in the world. The Alliance adopted its current name in September 2017, one year after Nissan acquired a controlling interest in Mitsubishi and subsequently made Mitsubishi an equal partner in the Alliance.
The adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in the France is actively supported by the French government through a bonus–malus system through which provides subsidies towards the purchase of all-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids with low CO2 emissions. The government also provides non-monetary incentives; subsidies for the deployment of charging infrastructure; and long term regulations with specific targets. Additionally, France passed a law in December 2019 to phase out sales of cars that burn fossil fuels by 2040.
The adoption of plug-in electric vehicles in Australia is driven mostly by state-based electric vehicle targets and monetary incentives to support the adoption and deployment of low- or zero-emission vehicles. The monetary incentives include electric vehicle subsidies, interest-free loans, registration exemptions, stamp duty exemptions, the luxury car tax exemption and discounted parking for both private and commercial purchases. The Clean Energy Finance Corporation, energy providers, car loan providers and car insurance providers also offer their own financial incentives for electric vehicle purchases including Macquarie Bank offering the lowest electric car loan of 2.99%.
SUNDAY, 27 FEB 2011 This video provides a preview of Renault's Fluence ZE Concept car, the first electric car with a switchable battery available on the Better Place electric vehicle network. The Fluence ZE Concept EV was unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show.
Better Place CEO states that he has placed an order for 100,000 electric cars from Renault
Shai: ..we're a year away from the public launch of the network, but we've already sold almost 70,000 cars, which is about 1/3 of one year's worth of (new car) sales in Israel.