It's Four-For-Four as Renault Slates Production for All of its Frankfurt EV Concepts

It's Four-For-Four as Renault Slates Production for All of its Frankfurt EV Concepts

By John O'Dell November 9, 2009

We're not sure what the real things will look like, but the last three of those - shall we say - interestingly-named, unusual looking electric car concepts that Renault showed at the Frankfurt Auto Show earlier this year will become production cars for the European market, the automaker has now said.

Renault previously had announced that one of the "concepts," the Fluence Z.E. electric sedan, was the prototype for the EV it will begin selling in Israel and Denmark in 2011.

Now comes word that the company will start building a retail version of the 4-passenger Zoe Z.E. minicar at its plant in Flines, France - near Paris, starting in 2012.

The company said in a statement last week that production models based on the  Zoe  would account for about two-thirds of its European EV sales and be its core electric car.

Two more EVs were announced this morning as Renault said it will build a production version of the 2- seat Twizy Z.E. low-speed city car (right) at a Spanish plant in Valladolid, 90 miles northwest of Madrid, and a version of the Kangoo-based commercial minivan (left, below) at its plant in Maubeuge, in Northern France, beginning in 2011.

The Fluence will be sold as a sort of national EV in Israel and Denmark under a partnership of the Renault-Nissan Alliance and California-based EV infrastructure developer Better Place.

The San Francisco Bay Area company will provide nationwide networks of charging stations and battery exchange centers in the two countries to serve the Renault-built Fluence (bottom, right) - which will utilize the Better Place-developed exchangeable battery system for their Nissan-developed lithium-ion battery packs.

So that's four EVs for Renault and one - the Leaf - for partner Nissan (which says more models are coming), with production of the Leaf slated to begin next year and all five models to be in production by 2012.

Looks like Renault-Nissan Alliance chief Carlos Ghosn really is serious about advancing the electric car.

Here's wishing him loads of success, enough, at least, to change the thinking of executives such as Fiat-Chrysler chief Sergio Marchionne, whose crew has dramatically downsized Chrysler's previously ambitious electrification plan.

John O'Dell, Senior Editor

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.