The limited range enables Renault to keep the price low and, according to senior vice president for electric vehicles Giles Normand, the need for a big range is less important because this is a city car.
In Chinese specification, the K-ZE has a 44bhp, 88lb ft electric motor. It needs seven seconds to reach 37mph and has a top speed of 65mph.
Then-brand boss Thierry Bolloré told Autocar at last year’s Frankfurt show that Renault is looking at how to bring an EV to Europe for “around £10,000”.
The K-ZE was designed at the outset as a global model and will have been engineered in several forms. It will, however, be produced in only one plant – Shiyan, China – to contain costs.
Within Renault’s electric line-up, the K-ZE sits beneath the recently upgraded Zoe, but it could also make an affordable entry into electric motoring for Dacia.
Renault’s vice-president of sales, Olivier Murguet, also confirmed that the K-ZE will be launched in Europe despite the decline in the small car market, because the company believes the model will be an “ideal car for car-sharing”.
Claiming that young people are shifting away from buying cars into more flexible rental platforms, Murguet said: “They will rent this kind of car and this is why we believe the day an A-segment EV comes to the market in Europe, it could have a huge success in car sharing.”
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