With so much at stake, the Renault-Nissan Alliance tries to treat symptoms of ‘range anxiety’

The Renault-Nissan Alliance is banking on electric vehicles accounting for 10 per cent of the world market by 2020 and its overriding aim is to win a sizeable chunk of that business. The Alliance is investing €4 billion in its zero emissions programme and a 2,000-strong team (1,000 at Renault and 1,000 at Nissan) is currently working on electric vehicles.

From 2011, Renault will begin to introduce an unprecedented four electric vehicle range, starting with Kangoo Van Z.E.  From 2012, three cars will be launched: Fluence Z.E. plus two new, all-electric models based on the Twizy and Zoe concept cars.

With this product plan – a small city car, a compact hatchback, a family saloon and a light commercial vehicle – the Alliance is hoping that they are covering all the largest segments of the car market and meeting the majority of motorists' needs.

But there is one feature that all electric vehicles share in common: a limited range – in the case of Renault’s Z.E. cars, 100 miles between recharges. This, in turn, induces ‘range anxiety’ - worrying that the car will run out of juice before reaching home or a recharging point.

Charging the battery at the roadside

The Alliance has taken a number of steps with the intention of ‘reassuring prospective electric vehicle users that simple, practical solutions will be in place to enable them to charge their battery, both at home and by the roadside.’

The Alliance has been working over the last two years to reach agreement with governments, administrative bodies, local authorities, energy providers and other partners to establish the necessary infrastructure for the mass marketing of electric vehicles. To date, the Alliance tells us that it has signed more than 60 such agreements across the world.

This Herculean task has produced just four agreements in the UK: with Elektromotive – the manufacturer of Elektrobay recharging points, with One North East - a recently abolished regional development agency, with the city of Milton Keynes and with Greentomatocars – a London minicab company. In France, there are just two agreements: with EDF, the electricity supply company and with Indian Ocean French administered Reunion Island.

In the UK and, it would appear, in France, it is unlikely that the Alliance’s attempts to create an infrastructure (and also sell the Alliance’s products) will achieve the necessary reassurance to allay range fears.

Range management

Range management, admits Renault, is ‘a key consideration when it comes to electric vehicles, and this is why Renault has made optimisation as straightforward and efficient as possible. A specific MMI (Man Machine Interface) has been developed to keep the driver informed about the vehicle's current state of charge and remaining range.’

This means there are four ways to keep the driver informed:

a gauge alongside the speedometer displays the battery's level of charge

•    an 'econo-meter' uses a new a new colour-coded system to tell the driver how economical his or her driving is in terms of energy consumption (light blue for 'normal' vehicle use, dark blue for 'optimal' driving and red for excessive energy consumption likely to reduce the vehicle's range)

•    the trip computer is adapted to the needs of electric vehicles and indicates the number of kWh remaining, average and instantaneous energy consumption and remaining range (in miles)
•    the Carminat TomTom® smart navigation system takes range-related data into account and permanently displays the location of the nearest battery charging station.

Battery-charging techniques

Another electric car fear is the time taken to recharge the battery. The Alliance is making three types of battery-changing available:

•    a standard charge using a simple domestic Wall-Box via the household mains supply or at the workplace (between six and eight hours).

•    fast charge: permits batteries to be charged to 80 per cent of their capacity in 20 minutes (available in 2013). 

•    rapid battery exchange enabling (the Fluence’s) batteries to be swapped in approximately three minutes at bespoke battery exchange stations. In Israel, the California-based company Better Place is currently putting a network of such stations into place. About 100 will be operational in 2011. Renault has not said whether there are any planned in the UK.

Has the Alliance succeeded?

The received wisdom in the industry is that, at the current state of the electric car art, there are segments of the market where all-electric cars have a role – principally as small city runabouts that cover limited distances between recharges.

For larger cars, the future lies with PHEVs – plug-in hybrid vehicles that have both electric motors and small internal combustion engines such as the Chevrolet Volt and GM’s European equivalent, the Vauxhall/Opel Ampera. These range-extending cars have electric motors that enable commuters to drive in pure electric mode on workdays, supported by a petrol or diesel engine that increases the range to over 300 miles so enabling longer journeys between top-ups. This is certainly the product strategy adopted by Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, VW, fellow French brands Peugeot Citroen and most other manufacturers.

But not Nissan or Renault. The pure-electric family sized Nissan Leaf and the Renault Fluence do not conform to the industry’s direction. They are a segment too far. The Alliance has released more information in more detail than for any previous new model launch. But have they put up arguments strong enough to counter potential buyers’ range fears?

Not yet.