Pininfarina Electric and Cohorts in Paris
Seems the automotive buzzword these days is “electric.” We’ve all heard about the Chevy Volt. We’ve seen the elegant, sporty Tesla — that none of us will ever be able to afford. We’ve heard about the third-party conversions of the Prius to a plug-in version. And now, no less of a designer than Pininfarina has gotten in on the game and displayed the results at the Paris auto show.
Christened the B0, and built in collaboration with the Bollore Group, the vehicle is powered by a lithium metal polymer battery pack. The advertised working range is 150 miles with a top speed of 80 mph. There are even solar panels on the roof to top off the battery and regenerative braking is employed while driving. Mass production is set to begin in 2009 and a showroom date of 2010. (Hat tip to Endadget for the story and click over to see photos.)
Other electric makers showing their wares in Paris included Nissan, with a roll out date of 2010 and global sales in 2012. Ditto for Mitsubishi. Look for coming products from Subaru, Smart, and Heuliez as well. Most have an operating range of 40 to 60 miles on all-electric power, sufficient to meet the needs of 90 percent of Americans on a daily basis. The Volt, set to hit showroom floors in 2010 with a scary $40,000 price tag, may, however, be the vehicle the turns public favor more solidly toward these vehicles. A hybrid electric, with a range of 40 miles, the Volt employs a small gasoline engine to activate battery recharging as needed and a computer system that purports to learn driver patterns and to activate the gas engine according to the degree of juice required.