Twizy Renault Sport F1 concept – where F1 meets EV

Meet the Twizy Renault Sport F1 concept – if the diametrically opposing worlds of Formula One and zero-emissions vehicles were ever to tie the knot, this is what we’d end up with. Renault deems it a “fun take on the brand’s electric urban compact” that bridges “the world of F1 technology and that of production cars.”

Among its F1-derived features are slick tyres from the Formula Renault 2.0 single-seater, a front splitter, side-pods, rear wing, diffuser as well as an F1-style rain light – but get this, it even has KERS.

Taking the place of the Twizy’s back seat, the system recovers energy lost during braking and stores it in a battery to be used for short bursts of acceleration, just like in Formula One. Including its battery, the KERS weighs around 30 kg.

When activated by pulling both paddles on the F1-style steering wheel simultaneously, power is boosted from the original 17 hp to 97 hp and the maximum revs of the Twizy’s motor rise to 10,000 rpm, affording a 0-100 km/h time similar to the Megane Renaultsport 265‘s (six seconds) and a top speed of 109 km/h.

However, the kinetic energy produced under deceleration is not enough to charge the KERS’ battery, so Renault Sport Technologies and Renault Sport F1 have come up with a system that borrows power (up to 5 hp) from the main motor to charge the battery. That means KERS is available as and when desired.

But it’s perhaps Renault Sport F1 president Jean-Michel Jalinier who sums this crazy car up best: “I’m not sure we’ll be seeing many of these on our roads, but it does show that the same principles we see on the race track can be filtered down to the road legal range – this is just the evil elder brother!”

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