Renault’s Zoe e-Sport comes loaded with Formula E tech

• Published On: 15 March 2017
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The 460hp car goes from 0-100kph in 3.2sec.

The Zoe e-Sport uses tech from Renault’s Formula E cars. The carmakers involvement in the series will have a trickle-down effect, as the team keeps innovating to improve the performance of cars in the electric racing series, more tech will creep into road-going cars.

There are two identical motors – one at the front and the other at the rear, each driving an axle. The car comes fitted with a 40kWh battery, just like the standard Zoe. It even has the same air and water cooling systems as the company’s Formula E racing car to ensure that the battery and control systems work at an ideal temperature. Four driving modes allow the driver to choose between performance and driving range.

To be better aerodynamically, there’s a new front air dam, flat undercarriage, a Formula E-inspired diffuser and a large carbon-fibre spoiler. The car weighs only 1,400kg including the battery thanks to the use of carbon fibre on the body. The e-Sport has two Recaro bucket seats, a rectangular steering wheel and Formula E-style controls.

The concept won’t make it to production but instead shows “what’s possible for a performance electric car,” said a Renault spokesman, much like its Trezor concept at Paris motor show last year that showed what was possible for an electric GT.

“We are benefitting a lot from the technology developed in Formula E,” Kugler explained, “and creating technology that will one day be used on the road. But for now we must continue to focus on bring the EV into the mainstream. We are EV pioneers and are beginning to benefit from our bravery. The Zoe ZE 40 is helping us to convince customers that we are solving the biggest challenges to the adoption of an electric car with its more usable autonomy.”