Renault Eolab: Preview Of Nissan Plug-In Hybrid At Smaller Scale?

French carmaker Renault hasn't sold cars in North America in almost 30 years,

But as half of the global Renault-Nissan Alliance--and Europe's earliest volume electric-car maker--its cars and concepts are important to watch for clues to future Nissan offerings.

So the Renault Eolab Concept that will be officially unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in a couple of weeks is particularly significant.

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The subcompact hatchback concept, which resembles a lower and more modern Toyota Prius C from some angles--albeit one with two doors on the passenger side and a single, longer door on the driver's side--is the first plug-in hybrid concept from the Alliance in a while.

Its mission is to bring together many different future technologies that will begin to appear in future Renault products.

Light, aerodynamic, partly electric

The Renault Eolab designers focused their efforts in three specific areas: minimizing vehicle weight, cutting aerodynamic drag as much as possible, and fitting a plug-in hybrid powertrain that allows all-electric running in many types of daily use without ever switching on the combustion engine.

The car's structure is made of steel, aluminum, various composites, and a magnesium roof panel that weighs only 9 pounds. Its total weight is 2,100 pounds (955 kg), a savings of 880 pounds (400 kg) over a comparable vehicle today, according to Renault.

The concept also spent thousands of hours in the wind tunnel to push its drag coefficient down to 0.235, marginally lower than the best volume production car today.

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The Eolab's front wheels are driven by a 50-kilowatt (67-hp) electric motor that produces 150 lb-ft (200 Nm) of torque, powered by a 6.7-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack.

The combustion engine is a 57-kilowatt (75-horsepower) 1.0-liter three-cylinder unit with an output of 75 lb-ft (95 Nm) of peak torque.

Renault says the Eolab can run entirely on electricity for roughly 37 miles (60 km) at speeds up to 75 mph (120 km/h), although those figures are based on the gentle European cycle and U.S. figures would likely be lower.