Renault Twizy fleet entering test phase
The Renault Twizy is a true electric vehicle (EV) city car. What better way to test market a city EV than through a car sharing program, similar to what Daimler is doing with the smart fortwo electric drive that we just wrote about.
The Twizy has no aspirations of being a real car. It is smaller than the smart fortwo (no mean feat), with its two passengers arrayed front to back rather than side by side. Taking a close look at that photo above, we cannot imagine anyone actually trying to sit behind the driver. The Twizy measures 92 inches long. That is less than eight feet long. The Nissan LEAF by comparison is 175 inches or over 14 1/2 feet long. No long trips for this Twizy.
If you were thinking that the windows are down for the first picture, a closer look at the second picture reveals that there are no windows. The doors don’t even extend all the way to the rear of the door opening. This open bodywork design is to reduce weight and optimize range. With its 20 horsepower electric motor and 7 kilowatt hour battery housed under the front seat, the Twizy tips the scales at a slight 990 pounds. Range is expected to be about 60 miles. If one is a particularly fit individual, they might actually be able to run faster than a fully loaded Twizy, but likely not for 60 miles.
Renault’s new car sharing program is called Twizy Way by Renault and will be offered in Saint-Quinten-en-Yvelines, France starting June 21 for 200 select testers. The program will open up to the public in September. We hope it doesn’t rain much there.