Paris show: Renault unveils ultra hybrid

FRENCH car-maker Renault has designed a rolling laboratory for fuel-saving technologies to be employed in future models that could consume as little as 1.0 litre per 100km and emit just 22 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre.

The super-slippery, ultra-light petrol-electric EOLAB hybrid concept car – thought to be a precursor to the next Clio light hatchback – will be presented at this year’s Paris motor show, showcasing 100 new technologies that add up to major fuel savings and a big cut in carbon dioxide emissions.

The vehicle – based on a Clio-sized B segment platform – started out as an exercise to meet France’s New Industrial Plan initiative to develop cars with a 2.0L/100km capability by 2020.

With the help of suppliers, Renault went one better and developed the 1.0L/100km car using technologies that it says it will be progressively rolled out in new models up to 2024.

The company says it has sliced 400kg from the kerb weight of the city car prototype, thanks to greater use of materials such as magnesium and aluminium, which it said were much cheaper than titanium.

Renault said it wanted to design an affordable fuel-efficient vehicle, and thus had avoided more exotic materials.

“Meanwhile, the notion of such a car being produced in large numbers within the next 10 years was dialled into the plan from the very start,” it said in a media release accompanying images of the vehicle.

Renault said the magnesium roof – developed with the help of a South Korean company – weighs just 4kg.

The vehicle is powered by a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain using Renault’s ZE technology from its range of electric vehicles.

The car is able to cover 60km on battery power, travelling at up to 120km/h, before the petrol engine kicks in. No details of the petrol engine were given, nor any performance data such as acceleration times.

Renault said the hybrid technology featured in the EOLAB would “become complementary to Renault’s zero-emission electric vehicle range”.

The aerodynamics are aided by an active spoiler and lateral vanes, which Renault says act as like a plane’s ailerons.