Test Drive of the new electric Renault Fluence

[dunti21]

Irritating Renault indicator sound!!!

[MrNadhazi]

imaging driving it all the way from France to Denmark with a 80 km. tank..

[davesag]

@MrNadhazi They say it has 160k range on a full charge but I didn't get a chance to test that. But even then, driving from my home to Sydney would take 3 swaps, which is obviously ridiculous. It's a real challenge to make batteries with anything like the energy density of petrol and probably never going to be possible. But if you can get to 50% of that energy density then you can just double the size of the battery (unlike a petrol tank it's not at risk of exploding) and voila, you got range.

[MrNadhazi]

@davesag i totally agree it would be smart if they could make some headroom for the battery now so in the future we could buy/lease a newer upgraded and bigger battery for it. so we dont have to go out and buy a whole now car.

[davesag]

@MrNadhazi Its a smart move I think, separating the car design from the battery design. The cars can focus on engineering for comfort, safety, utility and energy efficiency, and the battery designers can focus on energy density.

[MrNadhazi]

@davesag Are you planning on buying this car? Because im looking around the internet searching for my very first car and cant seem to find any and since i live in Denmark - where Renault is shipping this first - this car could be a very nice choice, what do you think and are there any better competitors?

[davesag]

@MrNadhazi I'm one of those rare people who has never owned a car, and who has no plans really to ever own one. I'd happily rent one though, just to see how it really performs.

[taxivlatko]

i have one and those tik taks are really disturbing!!! it`s too loud, i had a skoda favorit and it`s the same sound

[arifayaydin]

its cool... its made in turkey in bursa...

[NutsandGuts]

lol it sounds like an electric train

[horsycos88]

I hope I'll see more of these things.They should have a removable battery unit that you can change for a fully charged one every time you run out of power.I think this would be a very good solution to the battery range problem.It's like when you almost run out of gas and go to the gas station but instead of filling up you change your battery unit and pay only a few bucks.

[davesag]

@horsycos88 That is exactly the Better Place model. You pull up and swap out the whole battery.

[JohnCBriggs]

Before we get too excited about the BetterPlace model, we need to ask how much BetterPlace will charge per mile to drive this vehicle.

[davesag]

@JohnCBriggs their model is you pay a monthly plan fee, like a mobile phone plan and you can get different plans to suit your usage. They claim, while pricing is not finalised, it should be a small fraction of what petrol costs.

[JohnCBriggs]

@davesag This claim seems very unlikely given that financing a battery will cost as much as petrol. Looking on their website today, I see no claims of cost.

[davesag]

@JohnCBriggs I was told by the Better Place guy that it's more like 1/10th of petrol in terms of price but then, as you say, we've not seen the official roll-out yet. They are supposed to be rolling out the network in Canberra, where I live, and if they do I'll be sure to post an update.

[JohnCBriggs]

@davesag As I hear more about this, I think the financial model is very difficult to make work and probably will not work in the USA were gasoline is not heavily taxed. The prices announced in Europe are very high for both the vehicle (sans battery) and the fuel. That is to say they are high from an American perspective. Also wonder if Renault's rollout will be as slow as the Nissan LEAF rollout.

[kostea13]

Bravo Renault - Nissan Aliance ! ELECTRIC CARS + SOLAR POWER = FREEDOM

[JohnCBriggs]

@kostea13 Sorry this is a BetterPlace vehicle, no solar power no freedom. Must pay BetterPlace.

[kostea13]

@JohnCBriggs No problem.If you want to by the care and the battery from Renault or Nissan you can do it.Si imagine you have a Renault Fluence Electric in you house or garage and the rooftop is coverd with solar panels.That is what i mean SOLAR + ELECTRIC = FREEDOM !

[jeffsandychelsea]

Those indicator sounds would bug the shit out of me... lol But other than that, this car is bitchin! The US better adopt this technology. HEAR THAT, OBAMA?! YOU BETTER GET THIS TECH ALL OVER HERE!

[davesag]

@jeffsandychelsea The Better Place network is based in California I think.

[jeffsandychelsea]

@davesag yeah but I mean ERRVrywhere. Not just Cali... We finally have access to a system that could work on a massive scale and I want to see it implemented all over the country, if not the world.

[yesrdevries]

it is no problem if charging takes a bit longer than refueling, because plugging is much cheaper and safer, I mean you can easily install a plug next to a picknick table, try that with a gas pump..

[davesag]

@yesrdevries For faster charges you can simply do a quick batter swap too