December 9, 2009. Copyright 2009, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Fluence, the first of Renault's battery-powered family, faces tough competition from plug-in hybrids
By Neil Winton

LONDON, December 9, Graphic News:  Promises have been made. Some would say they were on the rash side. But the race is on to produce a practical and affordable battery-powered car, and the Renault Fluence is a top contender.

There already are some battery cars on the market, but they are mainly city cars with limited and inconsistent range, poor performance and tatty interiors.

Renault has made some notable claims about the future of electric cars, and has bet its future on their success. At the Frankfurt Car Show in September it unveiled four battery-powered contenders, of which the Fluence will be the first to market in 2011. The Fluence's range is 160km (100 miles), Renault claims. The trouble is, if it's an especially hot or cold day, if the route is more uphill than down, if the passengers are overweight, or if you need to accelerate often, that range might be considerably less.

Details about the Fluence are thin, but Renault says the car will seat four in comfort. It is 4,820mm long and 1,672mm wide. The electric motor is located near the front axle and the lithium-ion battery is positioned between the rear seats and the boot. The Fluence includes other innovations to embrace the environment, with photovoltaic cells to supplement the car's energy requirements, more efficient headlights using high-performance "electroluminescent" diodes, an especially slippery body shape to cut through the air, and low rolling resistance tyres. When you open the door, the interior lights shine luminous blue, a common denominator throughout Renault's electric car range.

At the Detroit Car Show in January there will be an Electric Avenue in the main exhibition hall featuring about 20 electric vehicles. There will also be a demonstration area to show off their abilities. This involves a quarter of a mile route and cynics might say that will mean at least the batteries will last the course, because electric cars must address the issue of "range anxiety".

Renault, and its Japanese affiliate Nissan, reckon that by 2020, 10 percent of new global new car sales will be battery-powered, that's almost 10 times other estimates. Renault has enlisted the help of the French government to boost electric car use. France will subsidise car purchases and re-charging points, and has ordered electric cars for government departments. Renault has a deal with pioneering environmental company Better Place, of Silicon Valley, which is setting up experimental sites in Israel and Denmark to offer a service which will replace exhausted batteries with new ones in the same time it takes to fill your conventional car with petrol. That should defeat "range anxiety", in theory.

At the Detroit Show, GM's Chevrolet will be showing its Volt, a plug-in hybrid which has an onboard motor to recharge the 40-mile range battery. The Volt, which goes on sale late in 2010, can be recharged at your home overnight, and with the internal combustion engine on board, has a range of about 350 miles. This presents the first test for Renault; who would want a battery-only car that does only 100 miles on a good day, when you can buy a plug-in hybrid?
/ENDS