The car is a Renault Clio Electrique that was part of an experimental production they did in the 90’s.
About 500 were made of this model and around half of them ended up here in Sweden, probably because ABB made the controllers and motors and our Norwegian neighbours made the chargers! And we’ve always been tech savvy and environmental so a bunch of communal fleets drove around with them for a while and they were also used at some airport terminals.
Specs:
Top speed: yes, eventually but not recommended
Batteries: 300kg of NiCd blocks at 114v 100ah ( around 84ah left)
range: about 70km if you put a while glass under your pinky and watch the amp meter like a hawk.
Charging: about 6hrs at 16amps, they were able to charge 0-70% in 30 minutes but those chargers are long gone
It’s a fun little machine overall but why weren’t these mass manufactured? Well first of it was almost double the price of it’s gasoline counterpart at that time and SAFT that made the batteries made a crucial mistake, they made the separators in the cells to thin and on top of that the cars computer couldn’t read single cell info just the total voltage, that caused some cells to get really hot because of unbalanced cells, and the computer also just counted total amount of overcharges, not the complete cycle, that caused the block to run too dry before turning on the batteries water refill warning. SAFT eventually made stronger blocks from 00 and up til 07 til EU banned cadmium based batteries.
Will probably do a lithium conversation if I hold on too it but I just found an Saab og900 T16 from 82, the first year they released the legendary APC system for $1900 so perhaps I’ll repair that one instead
by MrRandom93
8 Comments
That thing is so cool! As an enjoyer of weird and old EVs, I’m surprised I’ve never heard of these things before
Does it ever surprise people that a car that old is electric? I still see people surprised that Teslas have been around since 2008
Ok that’s cool. Now someone needs to EV swap another of that gen Clio but make it lighter and more powerful. EV Clio Williams
>the cars computer couldn’t read single cell info just the total voltage, that caused some cells to get really hot because of unbalanced cells, and the computer also just counted total amount of overcharges, not the complete cycle
RC fans would’ve laughed their ass off at this
It is electrique, but is it manuelle?
How about a F4R swap to it?
C’est magnifique
I love it. Something about a basic, blocky, old 90s style EV with analogue gauges just scratches an itch for me.
This thing is so awesome