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...

---

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!

[HardMiles]

But it makes no noise? For 120k I'd be looking for v12 noises...

I'm sorry, but no matter how much fun a real driver says it is, I'm NEVER going to give a single fk about electric cars.

ETA

Edited by Big Al. on Monday 7th August 17:11

[spikyone]

Almost half a ton of batteries.

No wonder they have to make the rest of it out of exotic and expensive materials. If they made it from regular materials it'd make a Mustang look skinny. Skunkworks or not, electric has a long way to go before it's a serious option for sporty cars.

[Evilex]

Wasn't "power sells cars, torque wins races" a Carroll Shelby quote? Did Enzo say it too?

[Vee12V]

Evilex said:

Wasn't "power sells cars, torque wins races" a Carroll Shelby quote? Did Enzo say it too?

Not that I know, but he did say "Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines".

[baysis]

Could electric race cars like this mean more circuits could be open more often and get round the planning/noise restrictions that have been imposed on many?!

[Fury1630]

So let me get this right.
It's not street legal.
It can't be made street legal.

It's quick, but a couple of stories above is a Mountune Focus with similar power, similar performance, probably a little heavier, but taking out the back seat & soundproofing would sort that AND it's street legal AND it's available AND it's crash tested AND you can drive it to the Alps, round the Alps & back from the Alps. AND it makes a nice noise.

SHOCK NEWS - Major investment by major manufacturer creates electric car that's not as good as a petrol one.

[Alucidnation]

fking awesome.

Im in!

[Dr G]

spikyone said:

Almost half a ton of batteries.

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?

[anonymous-user]

Yes, but the real question is, how many laps till you have to charge it up for 12 hours till the next run you can do? :P

[Lowtimer]

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.

[monty158]

HardMiles said:

I'm sorry, but no matter how much fun a real driver says it is, I'm NEVER going to give a single fk about electric cars. They're gay.

THIS!

Electric cars are w**k

If I wanted to travel from A to B at breakneck speeds with minimal sound or any real involvement I would just book a flight

[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.

[The_Immortal]

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.

Hmmm... I'm ready to embrace the electric age but a couple of points:
1) It's only the batteries that weigh 450kg, the motors must also weight 'something' and it still needs some kind of drivetrain, right?
2) Weighing less than a 991 turbo is all very well but I don't think that's a completely fair comparison... one being a luxury-laden, mass-produced (relatively) sports car which you can quite happily use every day and the other one being... well, not. I can only imagine the headline weight of 1400kg has a fair bit to do with it being essentially a carbon fibre 'race car'. I have a feeling it would be somewhat heavier if it was stamped out of metal and resembled anything production-ready.

All that aside, it's still impressive. We should be glad that car manufacturers are at least doing something exciting with electricity seeing as it IS the future... however painful that may be to accept.

[Glasgowrob]

colour me impressed,


i'm liking that,

[Mr GrimNasty]

It seems an absolute hoot of a toy - but let's not pretend it has anything to do with the future of mass personal transport or being 'green'.

For top range Teslas, the break even point for the energy/CO2 used just to manufacture the batteries alone is 8 years of fossil fuel driving.

I should imagine this is similar or worse.

I don't agree with the lack of noise thing either, these really powerful electric cars do make noise, different to a V8, but it is still raw and addictive.

Great toy, but as relevant as a hovercraft.

[ecsrobin]

A good video of Kryten / Robert Llewellyn driving the Zoe https://youtu.be/3RGPAynAjc0 a really good series and whilst I don’t think my next car will be electric probably within 5/6 years I expect to be driving an electric car, if only for the commute.

As for the Zoe after seeing it at Goodwood I’d happily have one!

[howardhughes]

If Dyson had to make a car this would be it.

[culpz]

HardMiles said:

But it makes no noise? For 120k I'd be looking for v12 noises...

Whilst i do agree with you and i'm not particularly sold on fully-electric cars myself, noise really has nothing to do with it. This is more of a insight into the potential future of fast cars without an ICE. Electric cars don't make noise, which is one of the worst bits for me!

The price is silly though. I'm struggling to see how these electric cars will ever be affordable. I'm hoping that fully-electric vehicles are not the future, but i don't see any other work or major developments being made elsewhere in order to keep our options open.

HardMiles said:

I'm sorry, but no matter how much fun a real driver says it is, I'm NEVER going to give a single fk about electric cars.

ETA

Eventually, you may not be given much choice. It's all speculation and panic right now and i pretty much agree with you here but it's really not our call, is it? For the record, electric cars don't do much for me either, apart from the instantaneous power and acceleration.

[SPMX5]

Mr GrimNasty said:

For top range Teslas, the break even point for the energy/CO2 used just to manufacture the batteries alone is 8 years of fossil fuel driving.

do you have a source for that?

This report suggests that "Battery electric cars make up for their higher manufacturing emissions within eighteen months of driving—shorter range models can offset the extra emissions within 6 months"

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/electric-vehi...