Renault's new line of electric cars will soon be on the streets of the city of light.
Industrial espionage uncovered as Renault launches new line of electrics
News from Renault Media and Roberto Motta
Photos Renault Media
Renault President Christian Husson has suspended three senior managers after an investigation into the possible leaking of electric vehicle secrets to rivals. “The suspension of three group executives was decided following an investigation launched by the Renault group’s compliance committee. The procedure is fully standardized, highly rigorous and entirely in line with the ethical principles of our Group,” Husson said in a statement dated January 6th.
The three executives are suspected of leaking information about systems that Renault is developing to carry a new generation of electric cars. The news was confirmed by the company and Eric Besson, Minister of Industry, who did not hesitate to speak of “economic war” to define what happened in Renault, a company of which 15 percent is owned by the French State.
According to sources within Renault it is suspected the final recipients of this information were likely to have been a Chinese rival. “We cannot accept that an innovation financed by the French taxpayer ends up in the hands of the Chinese,” one, anonymous industry ministry source told Agence France Presse.
“Le Figaro” newspaper reported that, according to several sources, the information passed on relates to the technology in the battery and the engine of electrical vehicles that will be rolled out after 2012.
The Zoe Z.E. is an attractive mini van scheduled for mid 2012.
Current Generation of Renault Electrics
Renault has begun its offering of all-electric cars with the Renault Z.E, which stands for Zero Emission, which in turn was a concept based on the Renault Kangoo Be Bop that debuted at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. The Be Bop is powered by a 70 kW electric motor with torque of 226 N•m (167 ft•lbf) and its lithium-ion batteries give 200 km electric range.
The full range of electric Renaults for 2011-12.
In 2009 the Renault extended the concept program and at the Frankfurt Motor Show presented four concept models; Fluence Z.E., Kangoo Z.E, Twizy Z.E and Zoe Z.E.
At the 2010 Paris Motor Show Renault presented the “Zoe Z.E.” as a near-definitive version of the vehicle that will be manufactured at Renault’s Flins plant, France. The launch of this car is scheduled for mid-2012. Simultaneously, the Renault presented several updated Twizy models and stated that the Kangoo Express Z.E. van will go on sale in mid-2011. According to the manufacturer, “Renault’s comprehensive line-up of electric vehicles represents a significant step forward in the world of automotive design and driving habits, since all-electric vehicles are the only solution that puts affordable zero-emission motoring within the reach of all drivers.”
EVen smaller than the SMART and with zero emissions is the Twizy Z.E. Concept.
Renault announced that the city car previewed by Zoé Z.E. Concept will be produced in Flins in France, and the vehicle based on Twizy Z.E. Concept will be built in Valladolid in Spain. Initially Renault purchased its batteries from AESC, the Nissan-NEC joint venture in Japan. They also announced the future development of battery production in France, Japan, Portugal, UK, and the USA.
Soon to be at a Renault dealership near you. This is the Fluence Z.E. No, don’t worry, they won‘t be offered in the U.S.
You can have a fundamental technological paradigm shifts such as the coming of the electric car but as long as the fundamental business paradigm shift hasn’t happen, we will see a lot of stories like that within the next few years.
Strangely enough, one of the most mocked idea (by companies, not users) was an open source, open platform car project that would have contributors. A distributor would repackage it with its logo, much as the open source software movement thrives.
Thanks for including electric cars. After all, their historic contributions predate that of our gas ones.