Unveiled, today, at the Paris Auto Show – the B-Zero is not a concept. This car will be in production shipping in 2009.
Bolloré and Pininfarina have entered into a partnership featuring all the expertise required to launch serial production of an electric car.
This car will not be a prototype. It will be a mass production model, with the first units coming off the production line at the end of 2009, after which production will be ramped up gradually based on the availability of the batteries. Built in Turin by Pininfarina-Bolloré, a joint venture formed by the two family-owned groups, the B0 electric car will be powered by Bolloré’s proprietary LMP technology, using a combination of batteries and supercapacitors manufactured in Bolloré’s plants in Quimper, France and Montreal, Canada.
The B0 will be a fully-electric vehicle without any carbon dioxide production, having been designed from the ground up with that aim in mind. Its batteries will be housed in a compartment specially designed for that purpose and located under the car, between its axles, lowering its centre of gravity and providing it with outstanding road-holding properties.
With its superb body styled by Pininfarina, Italy’s renowned vehicle design shop, the B0 electric car will be an elegant four-seater, four-door hatchback with an automatic gearbox. Its LMP battery, which will be rechargeable in a matter of hours from a standard domestic main socket, will provide it with a range of 250 km (153 miles). The B0 will have a top speed that is electronically limited to 130 km/h (80 mph) and will feature potent acceleration, reaching 60 km/h from a standing start (0 to 37 mph) in 6.3 seconds. The B0 will also feature solar panels on its roof and hood, so as to help recharge its electrical power reserves.
No hint at list price. You can download a .pdf of their brochure here.
This is an example of what should/could be American ingenuity in Europe. If it wasn’t for the pathetic replublican administration we have today, the US could now be a leader in this area post 9-11.
Bush squandered the opportunity handed to him at that tragic event to lead this country to independence and sacrifice. Instead, he sacrificed American lives and plundered the treasury.
ENOUGH. It’s time for Barack Obama and team to take charge. I hope the American people can set aside their prejudices and do the right thing. I’m hopeful but seeing a bunch of idiotic “Women for Palin” pins around is frightening. It is absolutely astonishing what drives people these days.
It will be in production for one day when the first “Top End” hack will be available on the interweb.
#1 “This is an example of what should/could be American ingenuity in Europe. ”
So, the gov’t has outlawed private company research?
You should be railing because we don’t have cost effective, non-fossil fuel electrical generation enough to have everyone in the US drive these.
And no, wind & solar can’t do it in a cost effective manner.
#1 – Dallas
What you said.
And once this thing is in production, it will probably be added to the list of techological advances that ARE NOT AVAILABLE IN THE US.
We might as well start planting banana trees. That’s the kind of republic we’re rapidly becoming.
With this range I might can consider an electric for strictly work commuting. Still have to have gas for travel though. My parents live a 14 hour drive from me, can’t do that in an electric car…and with a wife and three kids, flying down isn’t much of an option either.
#1 Dallas
So when the Chevy Volt comes out in 2009 (same year as this car is promised) will you say that it is because of Bush’s guiding hand? I suspect not. Orville and Wilbur Wright flew first in America because of Teddy Roosevelt as much as this car was developed in Europe because of Bush. And another thing… The last thing I want is a car designed by politician. “It’s time for Barack Obama and team to take charge.”
Take you political rant and copy and paste into a political post.
The PRICE converted from Euros to US is at over 50,000…and will most likely get worse by 2009.
You’re still better off buying a Prius (23k$) and upconverting to PHEV w/EV-30 (10k$).
You can’t upconvert a Honda Civic hybrid.
However you can with the Ford Escape hybrid. Speeds of 55MPH in full EV possible with the Escape & Prius.
Then when the battery dies…you have gas…that…wait for it…charges the battery!
How does it fare in crash tests?
#6 – Skeet
>>So when the Chevy Volt comes out in 2009 (same
>>year as this car is promised)
Chevrolet now says the car won’t be out until 2010. And they keep upping the price (started out at $30K, now it’s up to $48K and rising) and reducing the number they’re going to make (started out at 60,000, now down to 10,000 and falling).
We’ll see what they actually come out with, how much it costs, how far it will go, and whether or not there will be any around to buy.
Mark Derail brings up a good point. Let’s not forget there are more renters than homeowners in this country which puts them out of the market for any fully electric car as they have no place to charge it. Having a gas powered generator makes this option much more viable. I would be incredibly happy if all vehicles quit using gasoline, but you have to take it a step at a time (although I wish those steps were happening faster).
“If it wasn’t for the pathetic replublican administration we have today”
What about the 8 years(or maybe 50) before? Why haven’t we done this anytime in the past? It is not a political issue. We, the American people, need to demand this by buying fuel efficient cars. Why do we need 2-3 large cars in the drive way when 1 would do? and then have 2 fuel efficient cars for when you only have 1 person in the car. The government does NOT have to regulate this, WE just need to change our buying decisions. The car companies are going to make what we buy, so don’t buy the gas hogs! They will change the production lines faster that way than any other.
“So when the Chevy Volt comes out in 2009”
oh man thats a good one
Companies are driven by profits and have a fairly short view. It was/is Governments job to take a long view. Both Dem and Reps have failed to develop a long term sustainable energy policy. We almost were there because of the oil problems in the 70s but cheap oil in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s allowed politicians to forget about the problem. The government should have been funding core research on items like electrical storage systems but didn’t so we are still in the early stages of electrical transportation. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
#1 – George Bush is responsible for America’s technology and the Prius, I suppose? Actually, the hybrid concept was developed and refined at UC Davis, by a hard working team of students and faculty. I saw it there, at least five years before the Prius came out, and they told me Toyota had bought their technology. So it WAS Americans who developed it. I suppose you should be crediting “BJ” Clinton for it. At any rate, this car looks promising, and a look at the future of cars. Too bad it will probably be very expensive. No word on how much it will cost to charge it for the 150 mile run.
#14 – Digby – Actually, the hybrid concept was developed and refined at UC Davis, by a hard working team of students and faculty.
Nice try, but Ferdinand Porsche invented the hybrid car in 1901.
>squandered the opportunity handed to him at that tragic event to lead this country to independence and sacrifice.
It’s not independence to do what Europe wants.
#15–Jag==I knew about early electrics but not hybrids. In early years, I thought gas might be hard to find so making an hybrid is not intuitively obvious. Also, there was no power grid so no plug ins were possible, so why add on the weight and inefficiency of an electrical system?
I have been upset the USA did not develop electric cars ever since the 1970’s oil crises. Why over 30 (?) different models of cars/trucks are designed, built, sold in the USA why couldn’t ONE of them be electric? I know “cost” will be the answer===and I don’t believe it.
Porshe was a very smart guy (he also designed the Tiger tank).
That looks like a crappy car. Slower than my current car, doesn’t go as far, smaller, and costs more.
#17 “I have been upset the USA did not develop electric cars ever since the 1970’s oil crises. ”
Umm, where would the electricity to charge them come from?
They are about as safe as driving a golf cart on the interstate. When you are typing with your mouth on your laptop in the hospital, then tell me you still think that saving gas and preventing carbon dioxide emissions is worth the sacrifice.
Speaking of the Devil, concentrations of carbon dioxide fall during the northern spring and summer as plants consume the gas, and rise during the northern autumn and winter as plants go dormant, die and decay.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas as it transmits visible light but absorbs strongly in the infrared and near-infrared.
Carbon dioxide is used by plants during photosynthesis to make sugars which may either be consumed again in respiration or used as the raw material to produce polysaccharides such as starch and cellulose, proteins and the wide variety of other organic compounds required for plant growth and development.
It is produced during respiration by plants, and by all animals, fungi and microorganisms that depend on living and decaying plants for food, either directly or indirectly.
I guess we better get rid of all those plants first before worrying about cars not producing carbon with dioxide, but then if we do, how will plants use carbon dioxide to make sugars that are necessary for life?
Oh, I’m sure technology will figure something out right?
$50,000 US for an electric car? Pah! No problemo. Every American deserves an e-lectric car. And a big house. As soon as those financial fellers are back in business, you can all buy one with money you don’t own. We did it before and we’ll do it again.
But hold on pardner, I’m waiting for the model with 18″ tires and a bulky exterior, that uses a shitload of e-lectricity. No sense in drivin if I can’t look down on all the losers from my passing lane or take up two handicap parking spaces.
Yeeee…haaaaaaaa!
#20–Paddy==the free market.
#21–carbon==the all too obvious market for electrics has always been the second car local short trip car. Playing off the carbon in your nick, or even reading this blog for a few weeks, one would think you’d understand the difference between carbon neutral activities versus burning sequestered carbon sources?
You are either an idiot or wish to treat us as if we were. Dolt!
#23 “the free market.”
You are babbling again.
Well Paddy==explain yourself. Doesn’t the free market provide for all market demands? Your implication is that there is not enough electrical generation for a million new cars on the road, completely missing the reality of a slow build up of the number of these cars allowing the market time to build powerplants or encourage home based photovoltaics or it might even be true that night time excess capapcity can take car of car charging with no shortages at all.
How stupid and uninformed should I assume you to be?
#25 “explain yourself. Doesn’t the free market provide for all market demands? ”
If you had been conscious for at least one day in the last 30 years, you’d know that the energy production market in the US is not free.
#9 Mustard.
“Chevrolet now says the car won’t be out until 2010. And they keep upping the price (started out at $30K, now it’s up to $48K and rising) and reducing the number they’re going to make (started out at 60,000, now down to 10,000 and falling).”
And considering how FUGLY is the final version I believe that they are uglifying it to the extreme to make consumers prefer to buy their trucks and SUVs.
#26–Paddy==Whoa! Now you are playing the fool. Pathetic you think “the free market is not free” is funny.
I won’t be responding to your posts unless I can see a benefit to others of your ilk, but not so retarded.
#18 – Smartalix
He was involved with Maus as well.
#17 – bobbo – I have been upset the USA did not develop electric cars ever since the 1970’s oil crises.
Who killed the electric car.