Looking to open up to new technological innovations in connected mobility, Renault has joined forces with Paris Région Lab to select partner start-ups and develop working relationships as part of an approach based on dialogue, innovation and openness. The two partners have chosen five young companies, Apila, SoCloz, MobiquiThings, I-Dispo and Telepark, which have set up shop in a dedicated space at the Paris Innovation Masséna “incubator” in the 13^th arrondissement in Paris. The partnership’s initial achievement is a set of new connected mobility services available on R-Link (to feature notably on New Clio and ZOE) based on the development of special apps.

Commenting, Nicolas Nollet, head of international after-sales strategy at Renault, said: It is very important for Renault to open up to the innovative momentum of the Parisian ecosystem and in particular to this type of partnership. This experience is an excellent opportunity to mix and match cultures to the benefit of each party with a view to bringing Renault customers new connected mobility offers.

Jean-Louis Missika, assistant to the Mayor of Paris and head of innovation, research and universities, added: The partnership brings these companies an outstanding context for their development. For the first time, a carmaker is joining forces with a City of Paris incubator to identify young innovative companies and speed their development.

The initiative provides the start-ups with strong support for their development. The contribution of Renault’s human and technical skills combined with Paris Région Lab’s experience in backing start-ups is a particularly rare opportunity for getting a business on track. This incubator is a real-life sign of a shift in the relationships between small and large companies in the field of innovation.

Overview of the five first start-ups to join the adventure

Apila. Urban drivers spend a total five hours a month trying to find a parking space. Apila is a multi-platform, community-based mobile app used to exchange street parking spaces in real time. Available free of charge on iPhone, Android and, soon, Renault R-Link, Apila disseminates information on supply and demand, puts motorists in touch with each other, handles their interaction, and ensures parking space swaps, all the while taking real-life cases into account.

MobiquiThings is a mobile operator that works with manufacturers in all sectors (automotive and transport, logistics, energy, water, health, safety, etc.) by operating fleets of communicating machines. The company supplies its own, branded SIM 2G (GSM) and 3G cards and the corresponding subscriptions, contracts and connection offers so that its SIM cards hook up flexibly and dynamically to the networks of telecom operators with the best services in terms of coverage, service quality, cost and availability.

SoCloz is a pre-shopping assistant that helps web users find products and the real-life stores that sell them. Users get dedicated store information (stock, prices and special deals, plus opening hours, distances and so on) updated several times a day. SoCloz users can also find high-street stores with just one click. Some 65 major brands are now working with SoCloz (including Galeries Lafayette, Morgan, Bérénice, Darty and Castorama), which lists over one million products and nearly 7,000 stores.

I-Dispo. People waste some 30 minutes a day doing simple tasks such as organizing an appointment with a local professional, comparing product and service prices and getting estimates from service providers. I-Dispo helps them to cut this time down to zero thanks to an original virtual concierge service, in the shape of a personal assistance available 24-7 via phone, car or television.

Telepark is an electronic automation and parking management solution for town councils and motorists. More specifically, it helps motorists pay for parking instantly from their mobile device and brings them a range of complementary services such as reminders on parking time limits, remote reminders/deactivation, and consumption records. A new solution is in the pipeline for motorists to pay their street parking spaces directly from their cars.

The Lardy Technical Center

The Lardy Technical Center, which opened in 1951, handles testing of all Renault engines and gearboxes. In 2011, the centre set up an electric vehicle unit for testing the motors and batteries used in Renault’s ZE lineup.

The site is also responsible for testing vehicle functions, validation of which relies heavily on simulation systems. There are more than a hundred test benches rooting out failure risks in axle and chassis systems, to ensure they’ll go the distance, regardless of road conditions. And body equipment undergoes tough treatment to ensure it’ll stand the test of time, and anything the weather can throw at it in the way of heat, cold, wind and wet.

Lardy also handles the full range of passive safety tests, including front, side and rear collisions. The centre’s test rigs cover most kinds of real-life accident situation, the aim being to improve vehicle resilience and minimize the risk of bodily injury to occupants.

The big crash

That’s precisely where our visit starts, observing the installation of four dummies (two adult-sized ones at the front and two child-sized ones at the rear) in a superb white ZOE, which is set to be propelled against an obstacle at a speed of 65 km/h. Each crash test demands three days of preparation. Here we see the technicians making the final adjustments. The car’s bristling with sensors. The boot’s packed with electronic gear. And paint is being applied on the dummies so that the impact points on the car interior can be determined. Once everything’s ready, everyone scurries off the test track. The car is ready for its last run, a sacrifice that will be everything but futile.

The whirr of the engine ends just seconds later in a mighty crash, followed by total silence: a terrifying sound sequence that brings dread to every motorist’s ear. The car went from 65 km/h to standstill over a distance of 50 centimeters. That works out at a deceleration of 35 G, which is seven times that supported by a fighter pilot. Though the front of the car has been well and truly demolished, the passenger compartment has actually withstood the impact very well. You can even open the doors fairly “normally”, which is quite astounding when you think about it. As passive safety manager Fabien Duboc explains: The idea is to absorb impact energy at the front, keep the passenger compartment intact, and protect the occupants with airbags, seatbelts and force limiters. For example, the airbag inflates just 30 milliseconds after impact. As for the four dummies, well there seems to be very little in the way of major injury. Just minor damage to the driver’s ribcage and left leg, and the passenger’s right leg. Nobody will be spending the night in hospital.

So what about safety considerations specific to this being an electric car? To start with, ZOE’s airbag controller shuts down battery power immediately, so all circuits are dead. There’s no risk of electrocution: even if a battery is intact after an emergency shutdown (as shown in the photo below), it will need reinitializing at a specialist centre.

During the design phase, close to a hundred ZOEs will have undergone all types of crash test (front, side and rear impact, pedestrian impact, etc.).

The 12 trials of ZOE

Our visit continued with a look at the watertightness tests on ZOE. Here we find a black ZOE in a gigantic shower room, which simulates any kind of climate condition, from a misty morning in Brittany through to a Mediterranean thunderstorm or a tropical downpour in the Brazilian rain forest. There’s a hydraulic system for varying the vehicle inclination, while a technician inside the car examines the interior with a torch to detect the slightest leak. This is also the place where they check that ZOE’s charge connector (concealed behind the front badge) can be plugged in with no risk despite the pouring rain outside! The car is checked for leakage under spray from a high-pressure cleaner. And the technicians will also be looking for signs of condensation in the lighting units (bearing in mind that electric vehicles don’t have the same lamp temperature as their internal-combustion counterparts). As Marc Manconot, watertightness validation manager, reminds us, ZOE has also been tested to confirm fault-free operation at a speed of 10 km/h in 40 centimeters of water, which means the battery is submerged. Again, the tests confirm there is no risk of electrocution.

Further along, we find an electric motor test bench running a comprehensive test program that covers electrical tuning, characterization (speed, torque), road cycle simulation and endurance (heat, vibration). Here a “5A generation 2” motor (for ZOE) undergoes the equivalent of 20 years’ normal road use over a period of 8 to 12 weeks, running round-the-clock at temperatures that vary from -20°C to +90°C. An engineer explains that the power electronics system is more important than the powertrain as such, especially as regards cooling”. He also reminds us that “an electric motor has an efficiency of 90%, way above that of the best internal combustion engines, which never exceeds 30% or 40%.

The last stop in our tour is at the battery unit, a 2,500 square meter building that tests the batteries powering Renault’s ZE range, including ZOE. Again, endurance is tested under the harshest conditions. In a climatic chamber fitted with a refrigeration system, a battery pack undergoes the toughest treatment to confirm its lifespan, reliability and performance over time. Then there are the aggression tests: chemical (fire, immersion, combustion), electrical (overload, external short-circuit, loose connection, nail test, etc.) and mechanical (static and dynamic compression, drop, pressure).  More than a hundred battery tests will be carried out in 2012, as part of Lardy’s extremely tough schedule for ensuring ZOE will stand up to anything a normal road life might throw at it.

With the launch of this second engine (the first being the Energy TCe 115), the Energy TCe family marks a fresh development in Renault’s petrol engine strategy and is expected to account for 85% of the brand’s petrol engine sales in Europe by 2015.  

Super efficient and a fuel economy champion

What are this powertrain’s best assets ?

• Class-leading petrol engine efficiency thanks to a downsizing to three cylinders: with friction reduced by 20% compared with a 4-cylinder engine architecture, the 3-cylinder pulser (combined with a longer exhaust phase) twice as powerful as that of an equivalent 4-cylinder engine, resulting in fuel consumption savings.
• The best driving enjoyment/fuel economy equation, thanks to a very low inertia turbo (the lowest on the market) combined with Variable Valve Timing (VVT)
• 90 hp at 5,000 rpm and torque of 135 Nm available across a broad rev-band, delivering smooth response from low engine speeds.
• Fuel economy champion: fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are slashed by 25 % (in NEDC combined cycle) compared to the engine it replaces.
• User cost is reduced: from -20 % to -50 % (depending on countries). In Germany, Portugal, or Romania for instance, the customer will pay less taxes reduced related to cylinder level, when buying a car.  He’ll also spend less on gas and pay less taxes related to CO2 emissions (depending on countries).
• In terms of technologies, it features the Stop & Start technology, braking energy recovery, a variable displacement oil pump , thermomanagement, and a high tumble effect (for fast, stable combustion), etc.

Other newbie, the Energy dCi 90 egine

Last-born of the family and also introduced in Geneva, the Energy dCi 90 engine derives from the Energy dCi 110 engine.

Thanks to this engine (also available on Clio 4), Kangoo becomes the most fuel-efficient ‘ludospace’ in its class, boasting record low fuel consumption of just 4,4l/100km (NEDC combined cycle) and CO2 emissions of 115g/km, down16 % (homologated fuel consumption and emissions).

These two 90 hp engines, will bring to 8 the total number of Energy powertrains on the market, launched in only 16 months.