Monday 7th August 2017

Renault Zoe e-sport on video!

So what is a 460hp, four-wheel drive Zoe actually like to drive? Here you go...

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A twin electric motor drivetrain is not a tantalising set-up. It doesn't rumble, bark or splutter. Heaven forbid, it doesn't even spit flames. So what could possibly make driving an electric track car exciting?

The answer is torque. Lots of instantaneous and asphalt-stretching torque. It's the stuff Enzo Ferrari once said wins races, and soon, it'll be the stuff that dominates hot hatches. That's what a certain Renault Zoe suggests, anyway.

Except the Zoe e-sport concept you see on this page is no pepped-up supermini. It's a skunkworks thoroughbred electric track car that's been designed to show you and I how exciting electric power can be. Beneath its all carbon fibre bodywork lies a spaceframe chassis, developed by French engineering firm Tork and similar to the structures you'll find in Renault's ice racing cars that compete across Europe.

This body hides the car's 450kg batteries, which are located on the floor and come in two parts - each offering 20kWh in power and supplying their own electric motor. Combined outputs of 460hp and 472lb ft of torque are split to the respective axles via conventional mechanical differentials.

Torque vectoring is possible, the Renault engineers say, but this car is a work in progress, so it's got to make do with a more traditional diff set-up for now. Not that it's hindered straight-line performance, because the 1,400kg e-sport can whizz from 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds and it'll reach 130mph in less than 10, which is about a second quicker than a Porsche 911 Turbo S can manage.

This mega-hatch is as bonkers to drive as it is to behold. But don't just take my word for it - watch the video to see for yourself...

 

Words: Sam Sheehan
Photos: Stan Papior

[vz-r_dave]

Whilst I appreciate the effort, it's hardly a Zoe.... only £120k on the road..... look see electric can be fun too!

[vz-r_dave]

Lowtimer said:

Dr G said:

I would be surprised if its drivetrain was considerably heavier than an equivalent, conventional ICE (including full fuel tank).

Pull the engine, gearbox, diffs, and fuel tank out of an RS5. What do you think they'll weigh combined?

Exactly. The car is 200kg lighter than a 991 Turbo, and pretty similar in size. The batteries weighing 450kg matters a whole lot less when you can get rid of so many other heavy transmission components, and modern electric motors themselves are remarkably light for their power, vastly lighter than internal combustion engines of similar output.

Its basically a silhouette race car, so a fair comparison would be with something like an silhouette Astra, Leon etc.