The Elect'Road is a plug-in series hybrid version of Renault

Renault

Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...

's popular Kangoo. Sales began in Europe in 2003, mainly in France, Norway and a few in the UK. The Elect'Road was sold alongside Renault's Electri'cité electric-drive Kangoo battery electric van. Renault discontinued the Elect'Road after selling about 500, primarily in France, Norway and the UK, for about €25,000.

The Elect'Road had a 150 km (93 mi) range using a nickel-cadmium battery

Nickel-cadmium battery

The nickel–cadmium battery ' is a type of rechargeable battery using nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium as electrodes....

 pack and a liquid-cooled gasoline "range-extender" engine.

Although the Elect'road had a range extender it is effectively the very first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle

A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle , plug-in hybrid vehicle , or plug-in hybrid is a hybrid vehicle which utilizes rechargeable batteries, or another energy storage device, that can be restored to full charge by connecting a plug to an external electric power source...

 (PHEV). In hybrid terms it operates in a blended mode, using engine and battery power simultaneously.

Passenger compartment heat is powered by the battery pack as well as an auxiliary coolant circuit that is heated by the range extender engine.

Motor

The synchronous motor does not require brush replacement (e.g. as in the Citroën Berlingo Electrique

Citroën Berlingo Electrique

The Citroën Berlingo électrique is a battery-powered version of the Berlingo range of vans. It has a 162 V Saft NiCd battery , a 28 kW Leroy Somer electric motor and has a maximum speed of 95 km/h , with a maximum range of in typical driving...

) and therefore reduces required maintenance.

Batteries

The vehicle is equipped with a Saft nickel-cadmium battery and has a range of 60 km (37.3 mi) to 100 km (62.1 mi) when in all electric mode. The battery consists of two cases underneath the chassis, one with 8 monoblocks and the other with 14. Each is fitted with a fan cooling system and has a minimum 100 A·h capacity. The 312 kilograms (687.8 lb) battery provides 132 V and 13.2 kW·h.

The on board 3.5-kilowatt charger could charge a depleted battery pack to 95% charge in about four hours from 220 volts.

The battery life is guaranteed for 5 years (1500 cycles) and the cost to replace them if needed was 7000EUR

Range extender

The range extender is a Lombardini (LGW 523 mpi) liquid cooled 500 cc 16 kW gasoline generator. The generator used two high voltage/high output/low volume alternators, each of which supplied up to 5.5 kW at 132 volts at 5000 rpm. The operating speed of the internal combustion engine—and therefore the output delivered by the generators—varied according to demand.

It is equipped with a multipoint injection system and catalytic converter (consistent with the rules of euro 2000 in the MVEG cycle

New European Driving Cycle

The New European Driving Cycle is a driving cycle consisting of four repeated ECE-15 driving cycles and an Extra-Urban driving cycle . The NEDC is supposed to represent the typical usage of a car in Europe, and is used, among other things, to assess the emission levels of car engines...

).

The fuel tank had a capacity of and is housed within the right rear wheel arch. The range extender function is activated by a switch on the dashboard.

The Elect'road also offers a “boost” mode which provides better acceleration, by increasing the maximum power from 22 to 29 kW, together with a “snow” mode which is better adapted to driving on low-grip surfaces.

That being said, if you choose to run the RE engine all the time, the fuel economy drops to a disappointing 7 liters/100 km (39 miles per imperial gallon). However, a user have found that they only needed to use it 10% of the time in which case economy improves to a much more responsible 3 liters/100 km (91 miles per imperial gallon).

Summary of Features

• Battery
  • Air cooled nickel-cadmium battery
    Nickel-cadmium battery
    The nickel–cadmium battery ' is a type of rechargeable battery using nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium as electrodes....
    
     batteries, guaranteed for 5 years (1500 cycles)
  • Charging time:
    • 0 to 95% in 4 hours using internal 3.5 kW charger from a 220 V supply for 15 A circuits
    • 2 kW charge mode is available for 10 A circuits
• Range Extender:
  • Fuel tank capacity: 10 l
  • Output
    • Normal Mode: 10 kW
    • Boost Mode: 22 to 29 kW
• Range/max-speed:
  • Electric Mode: 80 km (49.7 mi) easily / 100 km/h (62.1 mph)
  • Petrol Only: ? km/100 km/h (62.1 mph)
  • Electric & petrol Mode: 150–200 km (90–120 mi)/115 km/h (71 mph)
• Driving Experience
  • Mains cabin preheat during winter (when plugged in)
  • Automatic creep (remove your foot from the brake and the van will start to move forward)
  • Warning light comes on at 10 percent state of charge
    State of charge
    State of charge is the equivalent of a fuel gauge for the battery pack in a battery electric vehicle , hybrid vehicle , or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle...