The Renault Twizy is a two-seat

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

microcar Microcar is a term often used for the smallest size of cars, with three or four wheels and often an engine smaller than . Specific types of microcars include bubble cars, cycle cars, invacar, quadricycles and voiturettes. Microcars are often ...

designed and marketed by

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...

. It is classified in Europe as either a

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heavy quadricycle The quadricycle is a European Union vehicle category for four-wheeled microcars, which allows these vehicles to be designed to less stringent requirements when compared to regular cars. Quadricycles are defined by limitations in terms of weigh ...

depending on the output power, which is either for the 45 model or for the 80 model, both names reflecting its top speed in km/h. Originally manufactured in

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

, Spain, production was moved to

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

in March 2019 to meet increased demand in Asia. Renault Twizy Z

The Twizy debuted as a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle, show vehicle or prototype) is a car made to showcase new styling and/or new technology. They are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or ...

at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show and was designed by Françoise Leboinne and Luciano Bove. In November 2010,

Nissan , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

announced a rebadged variant to the Twizy, called the ''New Mobility Concept'', or ''NMC''. It was also displayed as a concept with

Renault Samsung Renault Korea Motors ( ko, 르노코리아자동차), is a South Korean car manufacturer headquartered in Busan where its single assembly site is also located, with additional facilities at Seoul (administration), Giheung (research and develop ...

badging at the 2011 Seoul Motor Show, although it was branded as a Renault in South Korea for production. In May 2011, Renault announced they would produce the Twizy and began taking reservations. In March 2012, the Twizy was released to the French market, followed a month later by several other European countries. Available in three models, the Twizy sales price does not include the battery pack, which is leased for a monthly fee that includes roadside assistance and a battery replacement guarantee. In 2020 the Twizy became available as a direct purchase in the UK, no longer requiring the battery rental. The Twizy was the top-selling

plug-in electric vehicle A plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) is any road vehicle that can utilize an external source of electricity (such as a wall socket that connects to the power grid) to store electrical power within its onboard rechargeable battery packs, which then ...

in Europe during 2012. The milestone of Twizys sold worldwide was achieved in April 2015. Global cumulative sales totaled 29,118 units through December 2019, with Europe as its main market.

Specifications

Construction and safety

The Twizy is an ultra-compact vehicle, with a length of , a width of and a height of . The vehicle's frame and body offer occupants extra protection with its deformable structure, while the outboard position of the four wheels and the lateral beams located either side of the chassis provide protection in case of a side impact. The safety retention systems include a driver's airbag, a four-point safety belt at the front and a three-point one at the rear. The Twizy may be winterized with

winter tire Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...

s and adding flexi side windows to enclose the cabin. Heating would be provided by plugging in

electric blanket An electric blanket is a blanket that contains integrated electrical heating wires. Types include underblankets, overblankets, throws, and duvets. An electric ''underblanket'' is placed above the mattress and below the bottom bed sheet. This is ...

s to keep the driver warm.

Models

The Twizy model is

, and it therefore is part of Renault's Zero Emissions program. Renault Twizy

Twizy Urban

=Twizy Urban 45

= The Twizy range starts with the

light quadricycle The quadricycle is a European Union vehicle category for four-wheeled microcars, which allows these vehicles to be designed to less stringent requirements when compared to regular cars. Quadricycles are defined by limitations in terms of weigh ...

-classed Urban 45 that was originally priced at in Europe with a monthly battery lease charge of . The price has since been raised to around €10,300 exc. VAT but now includes the battery. It has a motor power of , a maximum speed of and can thus be driven in most European countries by drivers from 14 years old with a special driving licence (France, Italy, Spain) or with a moped licence (Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Finland, Slovenia).

=Twizy Urban 80

= The

-classed Urban 80 model features a electric motor and can drive up to .

Twizy Colour and Technic

The Colour model is a colourful and 'fun' Twizy available for both the 45 and 80 trims. The Technic model brings additional design elements while sharing the technical features with the Urban. It is available for both the 45 and 80 trims.

Twizy Cargo

In June 2013 Renault announced the introduction of the Twizy Cargo, a model designed for hauling goods. The space destined for the seat of the second passenger was replaced with a cargo box with a volume of and maximum weight capacity of .

=Twizy Cargo

= The Cargo 45 has 4 kW of power and top speed is limited to .The car only has 1 seat and there is a larger space behind the driver to store goods.

The Cargo 80 delivers a top speed of .

Nissan NMC

A rebadged version of the Twizy was launched in Japan as the Nissan New Mobility Concept (NMC). The electric vehicle was deployed in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

on 11 October 2013 for service on a one-way

carsharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...

program called "Choimobi Yokohama" (Choimobi means "easy mobility" in Japanese). During its first month on the market, over 2700 customers signed up for the service. A total of 45 units were registered through the end of October 2013. The NMC is classified as a

kei car Kei car (or , kanji: , "light automobile", ), known variously outside Japan as Japanese city car or Japanese microcar, is the Japanese vehicle category for the smallest highway-legal passenger cars with restricted dimensions and engine capacit ...

due to the car's dimensions and as such is equipped with yellow license plates. The Nissan-badged version was also used by

Scoot Scoot Pte Ltd, operating as Scoot, is a Singaporean low-cost airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. It began its operations on 4 June 2012 on medium and long-haul routes from Singapore, predominantly to various airports t ...

, an American scooter sharing company, as a pilot for car-sharing operation in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Twizy F1

Following the footsteps of

Renault Espace F1 The Renault Espace is a five-door car manufactured by the French carmaker Renault since 1984 for five generations. It is classified as a large MPV/minivan within the M-segment. The first three generations of the Espace were amongst the first co ...

, in April 2013

Renault Sport Renault Sport () or Renaultsport, was the motorsport, performance and special vehicles division for Renault-badged cars. Renault Sport was officially established in 1976 as a merger between the Alpine and Gordini competition departments. It wa ...

exhibited the Twizy F1, a concept version of the car that featured

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

technologies such as KERS. The KERS system and an upgraded electric motor boosted the car's power to , allowing to accelerate at comparable times with the Renault Sport Mégane R.S. 265 and reaching speeds up to . The car is equipped with various open-wheel aerodynamic and other racing parts, including tyres from a Formula Renault 2.0 car and steering wheel from a Formula Renault 3.5 car.

Twizy Delivery Concept

The Twizy Delivery Concept was developed from the VELUD project with

École d'ingénieurs généralistes La Rochelle L'Ecole d'Ingénieurs en Génie des Systémes Industriels, also known as EIGSI (can be translated into 'Industrial systems engineering school'), is an engineering school (grande école) situated in La Rochelle, a town on the Atlantic Ocean on the ...

, Airparif, La Petite Reine Groupe Stars Service and the City of Paris for last-mile deliveries. It consisted of a Twizy with shortened rear bodywork and an additional 2 wheeled trailer-like module for carrying containers sizing up to 1 cubic metre, forming a six-wheeled box-truck like vehicle. It was used in experimental test phases in Paris.

Battery

The

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...

is located underneath the front seat. Both motor variants carry the same weight of , including batteries of . The

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homologated Homologation (Greek ''homologeo'', ὁμολογέω, "to agree") is the granting of approval by an official authority. This may be a court of law, a government department, or an academic or professional body, any of which would normally work f ...

at . In real conditions, Renault announces around . At high speed and no eco-driving) the Twizy's range is about . The battery can be charged with an extendable spiral cable stored beneath a flap at the front of the vehicle. The integrated charger is compatible with roadside battery charging facilities as well as the standard 220-240 V 10 A household electrical supply. Charging an empty battery takes around three-and-a-half hours. A planned Renault battery plant near Paris was delayed due to technical constraints. Construction will start in the second quarter of 2012 and production of batteries is expected to begin in 2014 or 2015. In the meantime Renault intends to buy batteries for its EV range from a joint venture between

Nissan Motor , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun brands, ...

and

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

as well as

LG Chem LG Chem Ltd. (Korean: LG화학), often referred to as LG Chemical, is the largest Korean chemical company and is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea. It was the 10th largest chemical company in the world by sales in 2017. It was first established ...

of South Korea. Twizy is only supplied with LG Chem modules. Batteries are assembled in Renault Valladolid plant.

Safety

The Twizy 80 in its standard European configuration received two stars in the

Euro NCAP The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) is a European voluntary car safety performance assessment programme (i.e. a New Car Assessment Program) based in Leuven (Belgium) formed in 1996, with the first results released in February ...

Quadricycle Ratings in 2014.

Sales

Since its market launch in March 2012, global sales reached 9,020 units through the end of 2012, Click on Ventes mensuelles December 2012, and download the file 294 Ko.xls, and open the TWIZY tab. of which, 9,015 units were sold in Europe, making the Twizy the best-selling

in the European market that year. In France, a total of 1,551 units were registered through June 2012, including 1,212 Twizy 80s and 339 Twizy 45s, representing a market share of 89% in the

segment, and a market share of 28.5% among all categories of

electric vehicle An electric vehicle (EV) is a vehicle that uses one or more electric motors for propulsion. It can be powered by a collector system, with electricity from extravehicular sources, or it can be powered autonomously by a battery (sometimes cha ...

s sold in France during the first half of 2012, surpassing the Bollore Bluecar, the top selling highway-capable all-electric car during this time period. Global sales fell 66.4% in 2013 from 2012, with 3,025 units delivered. Cumulative sales reached 14,160 units through October 2014. , the best-selling markets were Germany with 3,728 units and France with 3,276 units, followed by Italy with 2,265 units, Spain with 1,292, and

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...

with 1,137 units delivered since 2011. ''Click on "Ventes mensuelles du groupe (décembre 2011) (xls, 183 Ko)" "Ventes mensuelles (décembre 2012) (xls, 289 Ko)" - Ventes mensuelles (décembre 2013) (xlsx, 227 Ko)" - "Ventes mensuelles (octobre 2014) (XLSX - 219 Ko)" to download the files for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 sales, and open the tab "Twizy Renault".'' The milestone of Twizys sold worldwide was achieved in April 2015. Renault Twizy ZE Rome 04 2016 6415

In 2016, Renault introduced the Twizy to

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

, along with the

Renault Kangoo The Renault Kangoo is a family of multi purpose vehicles manufactured and marketed by Renault since 1997, in commercial as well as passenger variants, across three generations. For the European market, the Kangoo is manufactured at the MCA plan ...

, expecting to import at least 150 to 200 units between the two models. The carmaker teamed with a shopping centre in Cumbayá (a suburb of

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...

) and the Ecuadorean Production Ministry to hold a draw for two examples in an introductory campaign. The winners received their cars on 17 February. All subsequent units are scheduled to arrive in-country from June, 2016, and will retail from US$14,990. Sales in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

totaled 305 units through May 2016, with Colombia as the regional market leader with 252 units, followed by Brazil with 34 units. The Renault Twizy 40 was certified by

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportati ...

in March 2016, and was scheduled to be released on the Canadian market by mid-2016. , Twizy sales led by Germany with 4,404 units, followed by France with 4,048, Italy with 2,696, Spain with 1,551, Benelux with 1,355, and Switzerland with 1,141. ''Click on "Ventes mensuelles (mai 2016)" to download the file "XLSX - 237 Ko" for CYTD sales through May 2016, and open the tab "TWIZY RENAULT" for details by country and by region.'' Until December 2016, a total of 18,592 units had been sold in Europe, representing 96.1% of global sales. ''Click on "(décembre 2016)" to download the file "XLSX - 239 Ko" for CYTD sales in 2016, and open the tab "TWIZY RENAULT".'' Global sales since inception totaled 29,118 units through December 2019. ''See pp. 24: Since the launch of the Renault electric program, the Group has sold more than 252,000 electric vehicles in Europe and more than 273,550 electric vehicles worldwide. Since inception, a total of 181,893 Zoe cars, 48,821 Kangoo Z.E. electric vans and 29,118 Twitzy quadricycles have been sold globally through December 2019.'' In 2020, Renault India said they were considering offering a stripped-down version of the Twizy Cargo for the Indian market.

Carsharing programs

Renault tested a

program called Twizy Way in

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines () is a new town and an agglomeration community in the French department of Yvelines. It is one of the original five villes nouvelles (new towns) of Paris and was named after the Saint Quentin Pond, which was chosen to ...

, France, beginning in late June 2012. During the testing phase the program operated with a fleet of 50 Renault Twizys distributed over a pilot area covering around , and around 200 were allowed to sign up for testing. Twizy Way opened the service to the general public in December 2012. In 2015, the

scooter sharing company offered rides within

in the "Scoot Quad", a Twizy with Nissan badging.

Chinese copy

In September 2014 the Chinese company Zhejiang Litong New Energy Automobile Corporation launched the Rayttle E28 which greatly resembles the Twizy in outside appearance, size and claimed performance.

Gallery

File:Renault Twizy (front).jpg, Revised concept of the Twizy for a close-to-production vehicle, 2010, seen at the

AutoRAI The Amsterdam International Motor Show or AutoRAI was a motor show that took place every two years in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The history of the AutoRAI goes back to 1893, when the bicycle exhibition was established. The first RAI exhibition was o ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. File:Renaul-Twizy-Madrid.jpg, Twizy parked in Madrid city centre. File:Renault Twizy, side view.jpg, Side view from the back at the motor show in Baden, 2012-05-05. File:Renault Twizy Z.E. UBS.jpg, Renault Twizy compared to a regular-sized car. File:Madrid Highway Patrol Renault Twizy.JPG, Renault Twizy of the Madrid traffic directors. File:Binnenkant groot Renault Twizy.JPG, Interior. File:Renault Twizy Okecie Airport.JPG, 1+1 seating arrangement. Tiny electric police car, Campeche, Mexico 2021.jpg, Twizy used by

Mexican police The Federal Police ( es, Policía Federal, PF), formerly known as the (Federal Preventive Police) and sometimes referred to in the U.S. as " Federales", was a Mexican national police force formed in 1999 and folded into the National Guard in 2019 ...

Campeche City San Francisco de Campeche (; yua, Ahk'ìin Pech, ), 19th c., also known simply as Campeche, is a city in Campeche Municipality in the state of Campeche, Mexico on the shore of the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico. Both the seat of the munic ...

References

External links

* (UK) {{Renault Twizy Production electric cars 2010s cars Microcars Quadricycles Electric city cars Euro NCAP 2 seat heavy quadricycle Cars introduced in 2012 Rear-engined vehicles